


Mixtape

by bluecalicocat



Series: A guide to life with eight supernaturals [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angel Yang Jeongin | I.N, Bang Chan is a dad, Demon Seo Changbin, Established Relationship, Family Feels, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Living Together, Magic, Mentioned Other K-pop Artist(s), Platonic Relationships, Siren Hyunjin, Stray Kids are Family, Vampire Bang Chan, Werewolf Kim Seungmin, all the kids get their own chapter, cyborg felix, fae minho, kind of chan centric tbh, lee minho is a dad, plus minchan, some angsty backstories, warlock jisung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26947414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluecalicocat/pseuds/bluecalicocat
Summary: The first was an impulse decision. The second was more Minho's fault, really. The third was an accident. And the following three? Chan would say those were accidents, too.However, Jisung would probably say that none of this was an accident and that Chan did all this because oflove, but Jisung also says that the school system is capitalistic propaganda, so Chan isn't sure if he should listen to the younger.But Jisung does have a point. Chan loves all of them very much. They're his family, and he wouldn't change it for the world. He only regrets adopting them when they're being especially annoying, which is only... Oh. Every single day. Well, he's stuck with them now.
Relationships: Bang Chan & Han Jisung | Han, Bang Chan & Hwang Hyunjin, Bang Chan & Kim Seungmin, Bang Chan & Lee Felix, Bang Chan & Seo Changbin, Bang Chan & Yang Jeongin | I.N, Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Everyone & Everyone
Series: A guide to life with eight supernaturals [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966537
Comments: 65
Kudos: 392





	1. Hellevator

The official supernatural council of Seoul is located in a rather mundane building, if Chan may say so himself. It might as well be a regular office building, but Chan knows what’s inside.

He steps through the double doors. There’s a front desk in the spacious lobby, but Chan walks past it and heads toward the vampire representatives’ offices, knowing his way around here better than he probably should.

He turns a corner, expecting to find the next hallway as empty as the previous one, but instead he catches sight of a familiar figure standing in front of the door he’s heading for.

“Bambam!” Chan calls, and his best friend turns in surprise at hearing his own name. A grin spreads across Bambam’s face when he sees him.

“Channie!” Bambam exclaims. He then seems to remember something, as he glances at the door leading into his office. “Uh, actually, I’ll be back in just a second. I gotta go talk to some higher ups. There’s a kid in my office. Keep him company?”

Chan doesn’t have time to do much besides open his mouth before Bambam continues.

“Great, thank you! I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”

Chan barely manages to nod before the other is speeding past him, most definitely using his vampire speed. Even though he’s a bit annoyed with his friend’s behavior, Chan is also curious to see the person inside Bambam’s office. It would make sense for it to be a vampire, considering they’re in the vampire section of the council, but that’s not for sure. He’s curious to see who’s in there.

With not much else to do, Chan steps forward and turns the door handle to peek inside.

There’s a boy sitting on the chair in front of Bambam’s desk. He’s young, but not as young as Chan had been expecting when Bambam referred to him as a kid. A teen, definitely, but not exactly a child.

The boy looks up when the door opens, and Chan notices the round cheeks and big eyes. His skin is tan, as if he’s spent a lot of time in the sun. If he’s a vampire, he can’t have turned more than a month ago.

“Hi”, Chan greets, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “My name’s Bang Chan, I’m one of Bambam’s friends. He said I could keep you company while he went to talk to some of the other suit-wearing dudes.”

The boy cracks a smile at that, seeming to relax a bit where he’s sitting.

“Hello. I’m Han Jisung”, he says softly.

Chan takes the chair from the other side of Bambam’s desk and sits down on it, grinning at the surprised expression on the boy’s face as he does. He must find it weird how comfortable Chan is inside this office. If Chan thought more about it, he’d probably find it weird too, and that’s exactly why he doesn’t think about it.

“So, how long have you been here?” Chan decides to ask, not wanting to ask why he’s at the council in case it’s a sensitive issue. In places like these, it tends to be.

“Here as in existentially, or here as in Korea, or here as in this office?” Jisung wonders, and Chan tries not to let it show that his response catches him off-guard, even though it definitely does.

“Uhh… All three, I guess.”

Jisung hums and leans back, not looking at Chan.

“Existentially, I’ve been here fifteen years. I’ve been in Korea for about…” Jisung casts a quick glance at the clock standing on Bambam’s desk, “four hours now, and two of them have been inside this office.”

Chan can’t help but raise his eyebrows at this.

“And where were you before Korea?”

“Malaysia. I’ve lived there since I was five.”

“Oh, that’s cool! I grew up in Australia.”

Jisung seems to perk up at the mention of him being from abroad.

“When did you move to Korea?”

“Around forty years ago”, Chan replies, and doesn’t realize why that’s a weird thing to say until he notices the younger boy staring at him in disbelief. He laughs a little. “Oh, that’s right. I’m a vampire. I’m 188 years old.”

After staring at Chan for a few more moments, Jisung speaks again.

“I’m a warlock”, he informs. Chan tries not to frown as he thinks about why the boy is in Bambam’s office.

“Then why are you in one of the vampire’s offices?”

Jisung is about to reply when the sound of a door opening stops him, and Chan turns around, having almost forgotten that they’re waiting for Bambam.

The man in question steps in through the door. The serious expression on his face has both the room’s occupants freezing where they are. Bambam notices, but doesn’t comment on it. Instead he turns to Jisung and gives him a look that seems almost apologetic. 

“The officials have decided to put you in the foster system.” He pauses to let the younger process this. Chan isn’t sure if there was ever another option, if this is disappointing or not, but based on how Bambam is acting, it doesn’t sound good. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem good for you.” Called it. “Most of our homes are overcrowded, so you’ll have to live with at least a few other supernaturals.”

It doesn’t sound like ideal living conditions, but Chan can imagine worse, so he doesn’t understand the expression of horror on Jisung’s face.

“No, no, no”, he says, though it seems like he’s mostly speaking to himself. “I can’t do that. I don’t wanna hurt them.”

Bambam winces.

“There’s no warlock that’s free to train you at the moment. I’m sorry. But, there is the option of isolating you…”

He trails off, clearly not keen on the idea. Jisung doesn’t appear to feel any better about this than he does.

“Isolating me? You’re gonna put me in isolation again?” he asks, voice growing smaller as he speaks. Chan can tell that there’s genuine fear behind it and finds himself slightly bothered by the word “again”.

“If you’re afraid your powers are going to hurt people, then yeah. I’m really sorry about this, Jisung. Those are your only options at the moment.”

Chan’s mouth moves before his brain.

“What are the powers that you can’t control?” he asks.

Jisung nearly jumps at the question, surprised that the other vampire is speaking to him.

“Uh, I have most of them under control. The only thing I’ve ever lost control of when I’m awake is my ability to make shit around me fly.” There’s a brief pause during which Jisung seems to realize that maybe he should speak more politely. “ _Things_. I make things around me fly.”

“And when you’re asleep?” Chan prods, because he feels like there’s more to it.

Jisung is more hesitant about this one, but still answers.

“Elements, I guess. So far, it’s only been fire and water. I once set a curtain on fire in my sleep, and another time I accidentally filled someone’s lungs with water when they were asleep…”

He quiets down, his eyes distant as he gets stuck in the memory. Chan feels nothing but sympathy for the boy, who’s obviously afraid of isolation, but too guilty to accept the offer of living in a foster home with other kids that he could potentially hurt.

Again, Chan’s mouth comes to a decision before his brain, and he speaks.

“I don’t need to breathe.” Both of the others in the room give him confused looks at this. “I mean, filling my lungs with water wouldn’t be an issue. I don’t need them, anyway.”

“But that’s only a problem if you’re going to be living with him”, Bambam comments slowly. It looks like he understands what Chan is getting at, even as he waits for his friend to confirm it.

Chan nods.

“Yeah, if I’m living with him.”

Bambam keeps looking at him.

“Are you offering to?”

This time, Chan actually considers for a few seconds before answering, trying to make sure that this is a good decision, even though there’s no doubt in his mind as to what he’s going to say.

“Yeah, I am.” He doesn’t think about how his boyfriend is going to react when they suddenly have a kid, figuring that it’s a problem for later. “I mean, we have money, we have time. Might need a bigger apartment, but yeah. I want to do this, Bammie.” 

Bambam searches his face, and in the end, he seems to find whatever it is he’s looking for. He gives a short nod.

“Okay. Obviously, the people in charge will have to do background checks and so, but they know you already, so all of that will just be formalities.” He then turns to Jisung, who’s sitting with his mouth open in shock, staring between them. Bambam smiles. “Jisung, would you be okay living with Chan? You don’t have to say yes now, and you don’t have to say yes definitively, we could have a trial period just to see if…”

“Yes”, the younger interrupts. He then seems to realize that maybe he comes across as rude, and mumbles out an apology before continuing. “Yes, I’d like that. A lot. Please don’t isolate me again…”

The last part is almost a whisper, and Chan feels a tiny piece of his heart break at this. He has no idea what Jisung’s past is like, and maybe it’s something he should know before making the decision to adopt the boy, but whatever it is, Chan will try to find a way to help him. Whatever issues he may have because of it, they’ll deal with those.

Bambam turns back to Chan.

“Well, then. Wait right here and I’ll go talk to them again.”

-

It takes a lot longer than Chan would have liked, but at least there’s not much left after this. He has to talk to some people from the warlock department at the same time as Jisung is talking to some other people to make sure that he actually agrees to what’s happening.

It takes an additional four hours before they get to sign the papers and leave. Chan learns more about Jisung during that time, even though it’s far from everything. Apparently, the younger had been kidnapped from his biological parents at birth and then raised by his kidnapper, who moved with him to Malaysia to avoid being found. The woman had been using Jisung’s magical abilities to give herself a longer life. She also kept Jisung locked in the house to lower the risk of being caught. That must have been the isolation Jisung mentioned earlier.

While he’s in these meetings, Chan misses a call from Minho and realizes that he’ll have to explain this unexpected adoption to his boyfriend very soon. When he’s in the lobby waiting for Jisung to come out, he decides to call Minho back and let him know that he’s not coming home alone. He hopes his boyfriend takes it well.

To his luck, Minho picks up fast.

“Hi, Channie, I was just about to call you. Where are you?”

“I’m coming home with a kid”, he says instead of answering the question. There’s silence on the other end.

“You’re coming home… with a kid”, Minho repeats. “Yeah, that makes total sense.”

Chan makes a grimace.

“Not really… I mean, I’m sorry?”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t know…? I just went to see Bambam, and then there was this teenager there who didn’t have anywhere to go, and they were going to put him in isolation and he seemed really scared… And I may or may not be responsible for him now.”

-

Minho is surprisingly calm when he opens the door for them at the apartment, all things considered. Chan honestly seems more nervous than his boyfriend. He’d tried to explain it as well as he could on the phone, but obviously there are some things you just have to see for yourself before you can understand them. Apparently, spontaneous adoptions of warlock teenagers with traumatic pasts is one of those things.

“Minho”, he starts, glancing nervously between the fae and the warlock on their doorstep, “this is Jisung. Jisung, this is Minho.”

“Hi Minho”, Jisung greets, giving a small bow. At least he’s polite.

Minho seems to consider something before replying.

“I’m older than you”, he says. Chan thinks Jisung isn’t entirely sure what Minho is getting at with this, as he wrinkles his eyebrows and tries again.

“Hello, Minho… sir?”

Minho takes a step back to let the pair inside, still looking a bit confused by this encounter.

“No, no, you can call me hyung.”

Jisung gives Chan a very confused stare before turning back to Minho.

“Hyung?” he repeats, and that’s when Chan realizes the younger has no idea how honorifics work. After all, he only lived here for a short while, and he was locked in the house for most of his years in Malaysia. There’s a lot for him to learn about the culture here. Both as a Korean and as a supernatural being.

“We’ll teach you about honorifics later”, Chan says, closing the door behind them. “Welcome to our home! It’s not big, and there’s only one bedroom, so we’ll have to figure that out later. Are you hungry?”

He turns to Jisung, realizing that the boy has been at the council for plenty of hours and hasn’t had a chance to eat.

Jisung nods.

Chan and Minho have been alive for more than a hundred years each, so they aren’t clueless when it comes to children, but they’ve never been responsible for one before. This is completely new territory for them.

They take it one day at a time. After all, Jisung is just a person. A young person with magical abilities that they don’t understand, sure, but a person nonetheless. Whatever happens, they can learn to deal with it.

That same evening, Minho and Chan start looking for a bigger apartment.

Two weeks later, they move.

The first night in their new apartment, Jisung has his first incident since being adopted. He sets fire to his curtains in the middle of the night after a particularly bad nightmare. Lucky for him, both Minho and Chan are still up, and they manage to put the fire out without much struggle. From that point, Jisung becomes a lot more comfortable with the couple, more trusting in their ability to look after him.

Minho and Chan are by no means perfect parents, but they’re willing to listen and learn, and that can get you a long way.

It’s a bit of a mess, having one vampire and one fae raise a warlock teenager who doesn’t have full control over his powers yet, especially since neither of them know much about his magic. They figure it out, though. It’s crazy what a little bit of honest communication and unconditional acceptance can do for a relationship.

Jisung doesn’t have the most normal past, and it takes them a while to figure out how to deal with the issues that come with it, but once again, they do.

Minho and Chan are a lot more comfortable in their roles as parents the next time they end up in close proximity of a child without a good parental figure in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rest of the chapters are gonna be more chaotic, this is just the beginning :)


	2. GLOW

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I would like to request your help with something", Felix says, a hint of mischief in his tone despite the professional act he's putting on. Jisung nods before he can even finish. "I wanna make a memorable last impression on my mom before I never see her again."
> 
> Jisung grins
> 
> "I have an idea for a great last impression! Trust me, you’re gonna love it. It includes magic.”
> 
> *also! this is not described in detail, but t/w: child abuse

“What’s the point of having a car when we never use it, anyway?” Minho comments, watching as Chan tries to fix the handle on the door to the backseat. Chan gives him a slightly offended glance.

“Babe, we can’t keep flying everywhere. We have a kid now. A kid who’s not a vampire or a fae, and he doesn’t usually get around town by flying.”

He has a point, but that doesn’t mean this car meets the standards for a functional vehicle.

The kid in question is currently sitting on top of the closed trunk, giving his full focus to the orange he’s trying to peel. He only looks up when Minho mentions his name. They both know that having Jisung on their side in an argument automatically means winning it, so Minho wastes no time turning to Jisung to ask him for his opinion on the matter.

“Jisungie, what do you think about the car?”

“She’s an ugly bitch”, he replies with no hesitation. Minho ignores the curse word in favor of giving Chan a look that clearly says 'I told you so'. “But in this household, we don’t discriminate based on appearance, and the ugly bitch is an okay car in all other aspects.”

Now it’s Chan’s turn to send Minho a pointed look, and the other sighs in defeat.

“Okay, fine, but if this car falls apart in the middle of the road, I’m not the one who has to come up with a plausible excuse.”

As the handle once again clatters to the ground right in front of their eyes, the possibility of that happening only seems to increase.

Chan sends his boyfriend an unsure smile.

-

Contrary to any logical predictions, they make it to the car repair place without the vehicle falling apart in the middle of a road, and Chan is only the tiniest bit surprised by this.

Either way, they make it, and it takes Jisung about half a second to jump out of the car after it has come to a stop inside the garage-workshop place. There’s only one repairman there, and he's currently wiping off some tools as he watches the new arrivals.

Chan and Minho watch through the car window as Jisung runs up to the employee, who looks very young. Probably around the same age as Jisung himself. Jisung stops in front of him and says something to the boy. They can’t hear what, but the worker’s entire face lights up at having someone his age to talk to.

The two adults take it a lot slower as they exit the car and walk up to where Jisung is now talking to the employee. Chan finds it fascinating how quickly they’ve managed to start a conversation, especially since Jisung tends to be wary around new people and doesn’t like to approach strangers. There has to be something special about this boy. Chan makes a mental note to ask Jisung about it later.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt, but we have a car that’s kind of…” Chan starts, trailing off as he realizes that he's not sure how to put it.

“Fucked up”, Jisung finishes, earning himself a snort from the employee and a stern look from Chan.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll take a look at it”, the boy says. “What exactly is the problem with it?”

He starts walking toward the parked car and Chan walks along with him, explaining what’s wrong. Jisung and Minho hang behind, taking their time to look around the shop since neither of them have anything to add to the conversation.

“I’ve never seen you approach a stranger that quickly before”, Minho comments, glancing at Jisung. “And I’ve never seen you be so happy about it, either.”

Jisung grins.

“Felix has a really bright essence!” he informs Minho, who stops in the middle of a step to furrow his brows.

“Wait, when did you learn how to sense essences?” he questions.

Jisung shrugs.

“I guess I’ve always been able to do it. I’ve never been able to do it well, though, so this is the first time I’ve done it this fast.”

Minho hums.

“Oh, okay. What was his essence like, then?”

“Human, but more metallic.” That description makes absolutely no sense to the fae. He’d thought that essences were supposed to be meta-physical, and not something you would be able to describe as metallic.

The confusion must be evident on his face, because Jisung continues.

“Yeah! Everyone’s essence depends on what species you are, but they have different auras depending on you as a person. Felix has a human essence, but a bright and metallic aura, but the aura is part of the essence so you could also say he has a bright and metallic essence since they’re both part of each other. He’s definitely a cyborg, no doubt.”

The more Jisung speaks, the more confused Minho gets.

“Okay, I think I get it.” A pause. “Actually, I don’t get it in the slightest, but that’s fine. Your point is, he had an essence that you liked and that’s what made it easy for you to talk to him.”

Jisung beams and nods.

-

Felix is almost finished with their car when the door to the workshop opens.

Chan and Minho, who had been deep in a conversation about what animal would take over the planet if humans went extinct, both turn their heads at the sound. A woman is standing in the doorframe, her eyes fixed on Felix. She doesn't even glance at the rest of the people in the room.

Her outfit definitely does not fit a car workshop. It’s more of a business outfit, with a professional dress and her hair tied into a neat bun on her head. Her expression is cold.

“Felix!” she calls, though it’s definitely not needed for her to raise her voice in the quiet space. “Come, now. You and I need to have a word.”

Felix steps away from the car, keeping his eyes downcast as he approaches the woman after muttering a short ‘be right back’ to the other three.

Chan watches him disappear after the woman with a weird feeling in his stomach. For now, he decides to ignore it. Chan turns to Jisung instead, who had been in the middle of talking to Felix before the boy got called over to the woman, and starts a conversation to distract the boy.

Meanwhile, Minho waits quietly. Unlike Chan, he’s not willing to push the weird feeling he has about this aside, because there’s definitely something weird with that woman. Her being alone with Felix sets off an alarm in his mind.

It’s odd. To be honest, the feeling reminds him of that day Jisung had gotten stuck in an elevator and had a panic attack, because that day, Minho had been having a similar feeling that something bad was happening. That had turned out to be true when Jisung called him, crying and panicking. He hopes nothing similar will happen this time.

However, it’s only a few moments later that he hears someone yelling. It might as well have been someone inside this room, considering how well he can make out what they’re saying… Or, more specifically, what the woman is yelling. The only voice he hears is female.

_“You’re pathetic!”_

What’s worse, though, is the slap that follows.

Minho gets up and speeds toward the door they just saw Felix disappear through, not really thinking about the fact that he’s running a bit too lightly, his feet barely touching the floor. He throws the door open and looks around the hallway he finds himself in, eyes falling on the pair just a few feet away.

Felix has a hand covering his cheek and an expression of shock on his face, while the woman opposite him looks furious. Her hand is still raised.

They both turn around when they notice Minho. It seems like the woman is about to say something, probably ask him to leave, but the man beats her to it.

“Did you just slap him?”

Minho’s voice is cold.

The woman looks at him in surprise, but then closes her mouth and turns her chin up.

“It’s none of your business”, she sneers. “He’s my son. Don’t interfere with things you’ve got no business interfering with.”

Minho takes a step closer, his movements slow and calculated. Even though the way the woman is trying not to show it, she is intimidated by him. Good. That’s exactly what he wants.

“Oh, of course not.” His tone goes a bit brighter, and much friendlier. “I would never interfere with something I shouldn’t interfere with. However, a woman slapping her son is not something I’m willing to ignore.”

He doesn’t mention that he also heard what she was yelling at Felix earlier. She would probably just try to make excuses for it.

She seems to sputter for a few moments, trying to come up with some way to reply.

“What do you care?” the woman eventually settles on saying.

Minho gives a slight raise of his eyebrows at this.

“I think a more appropriate question would be why you _don’t_ care about how you treat your own son”, he comments.

“Step-son”, she corrects. It’s almost annoying how fast she says if, as if that piece of information is supposed to make the situation better in any way.

Felix still hasn’t moved since Minho got here, but his eyes dart nervously between Minho and his mother. The fae has a hard time telling how he feels, but based on everything that’s happened since the woman arrived, Felix probably doesn't like this woman any more than she likes him.

“Step-son, biological son, adopted son, it doesn’t matter”, Minho says, the coldness seeping back into his voice as he stares the woman down. “You know it’s illegal to hit your child, right? And I will not hesitate to call the cops on you.”

This seems to do something to her, because she suddenly snaps.

“Why the hell do you care? He’s a fucking abomination, is what he is! That… that _thing_ is not my child, he’s not even human. How can I be expected to show care for a robot, huh? It’s not like it matters! If he breaks a bone, just replace it with metal, just like the rest of his fucking body.”

Other than a wince, Felix shows no reaction to her words. His eyes are turned to the floor.

The anger is hot in Minho’s veins as he takes another step toward the woman. He hopes he’s not freaking Felix out right now, because the last thing he wants is scare the boy when he’s just trying to make his step-mom realize the severity of her own actions.

“I’m not human either”, Minho calmly states, watching as the woman’s eyes widen. She was not expecting that. “And you know what? It doesn’t fucking matter. Your treatment of him can’t be justified, and if you’re not going to change, then you shouldn’t be responsible for him.”

“Well, it’s not like anyone else would want him”, she sneers, but the fire behind her words is quickly fading. Minho finds it hard to believe that she’s still trying when everything is against her.

His voice is still calm when he speaks next.

“What are you talking about?” Minho casts a quick glance at Felix. “I mean, we would.”

The boy snaps his head up to stare at Minho, a mix of confusion and amazement on his face.

“You would?” he asks in a low voice, temporarily forgetting about his mother’s presence. Luckily, she doesn’t make herself known, simply looks between the other two with something similar to disgust in her eyes.

“Yeah”, Minho confirms. “If your current guardian is willing to let us take you, that is.”

“Isn’t that a decision you should spend a bit more time thinking about?” the woman speaks up. It’s clear that she wouldn’t mind getting rid of Felix, though, even if it comes at the expense of admitting that this strange man is correct in that she’s not a good parent for the boy.

Minho sends Felix a small smile.

“Not that it’s any of your business, ma’am, but it wouldn’t be my first spontaneous adoption. Though, I’ll admit that the last time was all my boyfriend’s fault. And besides, your son is very kind, and already seems to get along with the kid we already have. I really see no problem with this.”

-

Obviously, it’s not easy. They hadn’t expected it to be. At first, Minho thought there would be the whole process of convincing Chan and Jisung that a new addition to their family could be good, but the vampire had been on board before Minho even suggested the idea. Jisung wasn’t far behind, his immediate reaction after Minho finished explaining being to turn to Felix and declare them brothers.

Felix’s step-mom avoids them for the rest of the time they’re there, up until Felix finishes the car and she suddenly walks up to Chan. It’s clear that she’s still intimidated by Minho.

“So, how do we even settle this?” Her tone is grumpy. “Do we just go to some adoption center, or what? Do those even exist anymore?”

Chan isn’t sure how much this woman knows about the supernatural, so he doesn’t mention that a great place to go would be to OSCOS. The official supernatural council of Seoul.

“I have a friend in the legal department”, he says instead. “He could help.”

“How soon?” the woman goes on to ask, and Chan really wants to snap at her by mentioning how she should contribute something to the conversation, herself, and stop expecting them to make all the decisions. He doesn't.

“Well, we’re free the rest of the day. What about you?”

Her eyes widen.

“Today? Really, so soon?”

Maybe she’d been expecting them to want some time to consider this decision. Chan is pretty sure she would judge them even more if she knew the story behind Jisung’s adoption, and the thought almost makes him laugh. She doesn’t know that making huge decisions in a split-second is kind of their trademark.

“Yes”, he confirms. “Today.”

He really hopes Bambam is working today.

-

Turns out, Bambam is not working today, which Chan finds out as soon as he walks up to the reception. Minho is waiting with the two boys and Felix’s step-mom right outside the entrance, since she’s a human and they don’t want to accidentally expose their own community to her.

They’re not sure when or how they’re going to explain all of this to Felix, who still believes they’re human (or at least some version of it). That will be a problem for later.

Chan is informed by the receptionist that one of his friends in the warlock department, a woman named Jihyo, is working today and that she should have time to see him. He thanks her before turning back to bring everyone else inside.

Felix’s mother is standing a bit apart from the other three when Chan opens the door, and she’s the first one to hurry past him to get inside, clearly not keen on spending any longer here than necessary.

Lucky for them, all the signs inside are enchanted so that no normal person can read what they say. The signs that supernaturals see as directions toward the warlock department show something different to humans, though Chan isn’t sure what.

If they’re lucky, they’ll be in and out of here fast enough that no one has time to question anything.

-

“Do you know what we are?”

Jisung’s question breaks the silence and causes Felix to turn his head. They’re both sitting on a bench right outside the office of Chan’s warlock friend, where both the parents as well as the two women are currently discussing things and maybe signing some documents. Jisung and Felix have been sent to wait outside.

“Uh, what’d you mean?” Felix wonders, not understanding what the other boy is getting at.

There’s a twinkle in Jisung’s eye as he continues.

“You’re a cyborg”, he states. “That means you’re mostly human. Do you know what we are?”

Felix only knows what Minho said to his step-mother earlier today. He said he's not human, but Minho never clarified in which way.

He shakes his head, and the twinkle in Jisung’s eye intensifies.

Jisung holds a hand out between them, turning his palm up before meeting Felix’s gaze, who’s staring at him in confusion. He barely has time to wonder what’s about to happen before it does.

A small fire starts in the middle of Jisung’s palm. Felix lets out a quiet gasp, not looking away from the small light for even a second.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” he breathes, glancing up to look at Jisung’s grinning face for a moment and then looking back down at the flame.

“Yeah. I’m a warlock.” He’s still grinning. “Chan hyung said that I wasn’t allowed to tell you, and that it would be better if he or Minho hyung did it, in case you didn’t know about the supernatural world.”

“I don’t”, Felix says, finally looking away from the fire to meet Jisung’s eyes. “Or, I mean, I know it exists, but that’s about it. Are Minho hyung and Chan hyung also warlocks?”

“Chan hyung is a vampire, and Minho hyung is a fae.”

The cyborg looks to be in awe of this new information as he contemplates it for a couple more seconds. Then, he faces Jisung and grins.

“I would like to request your help with something”, he says, a hint of mischief in his tone despite the professional act he’s putting on. Jisung nods before he can even finish. “I wanna make a memorable last impression on my mom before I never see her again.”

Jisung grins.

“You’re not very good for my impulse control”, he comments. Felix raises his eyebrows, and Jisung’s grin widens. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m probably not very good for your impulse control, either. But anyway, I have an idea for a great last impression! Trust me, you’re gonna love it. It includes magic.”

-

Chan is incredibly relieved when the woman finally signs the papers, and Jihyo sends him and Minho out to inform the two kids that it’s done. He had honestly expected this to be more complicated than it turned out to be, considering how long he had to spend in here last time.

The woman, Felix’s ex-step-mom (is that a thing?), speeds past him out the door, wanting to get away from here as soon as possible. However, she stops just a few steps out the door and stares at the ceiling. Chan can’t see the expression on her face since she has her back to them, but the sudden stop has him frowning. He wonders what could have happened in the short time they’ve been inside the office.

Chan steps into the hallway, eyes turned to the ceiling to see what she’s staring at, and he freezes when he sees it.

Jisung and Felix are sitting next to each other on the ceiling. The two of them even have the audacity to smile and wave at the woman, who makes some weird noise at the back of her throat before rushing off. She disappears down the hallway faster than Chan thought possible.

Once she’s out of sight, Jisung lets go of Felix hand and they both drop toward the floor. Chan is really grateful for his vampire reflexes, otherwise they would probably have injured themselves when landing, but he somehow manages to catch them both.

“Hi hyung”, Felix says with a way too innocent smile as Chan puts him down again.

“Fancy seeing you here”, Jisung adds. His expression is cheeky, and Chan wishes he could be surprised by these shenanigans. He’s not.

“That was an interesting place to sit”, Chan says instead. “How did you defy gravity this time?”

Jisung has told them about several different spells to defy gravity, but not anything that would make him able to fly. That’s not to say he’s never tried to fly before. He definitely has.

“A levitation spell!” Jisung replies.

Minho, who’s been watching them from the doorway to Jihyo’s office, speaks up.

“You did well”, he says, giving Jisung a smile. Chan hopes that he’s imagining the hint of pride he thinks he can see on his face. Minho shouldn’t be proud of Jisung for terrifying humans. “You held it for a pretty long time, and I’ve never seen you levitate any living creatures before.”

“Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened…” Chan mumbles low enough that Minho can't hear what he says. Chan doesn’t feel like explaining to his boyfriend that Jisung has definitely levitated a cat or two in his life. Or maybe closer to ten. Not that Chan is keeping count.

“Thank you!” Jisung beams. “It works better when I’m motivated to do it.”

Chan doesn’t want to think too much about what he means by that.

“We can have a discussion about the appropriate situations to use magic in later”, Chan says. He then turns to Felix. “Oh, and we’re your legal guardians now. In case you weren’t sure. We’re now responsible for you.”

Felix doesn’t hesitate before throwing himself at the older in a hug that Chan immediately returns.

“Thank you, thank you so much”, Felix mumbles.

Chan smiles.

“Thank you for letting us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to say this last time but most of their backstories are based on fairytales!
> 
> jisung is rapunzel, felix is cinderella, hyunjin is snow white, jeongin & seungmin are the little red riding hood but jeongin is the red riding hood while seungmin is the wolf. kind of (not really). okay so other than jisung and felix, they're actually not that similar. and changbin's backstory was supposed to be based on something but i lost track of that and it turned out completely different so he has nothing with fairytales to do now :)


	3. Grr

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did you not hear what I just said? I still wouldn't want you to be hurt. Also, you're a kid, and apparently I have a tendency to act like a bit of a parent."
> 
> "A parent?" Changbin repeats. "Aren't you, like, 25?"
> 
> "Yeah. But I've accidentally and spontaneously adopted kids in the past. Obviously I'm not gonna kidnap you, but if you want help with those injuries, I'd be happy to."

“Hey, hey!” Chan calls out, turning into the alley and speeding up as much as possible without tapping into his vampire powers.

The two figures further down the alley don’t turn his way until he’s already jumping between them. He catches one of their fists in his hand as the guy tries to get a punch in. Chan sees a surprised expression pass over the face under the hood, before the guy pulls his fist away and steps back. He gives the boy behind Chan’s back a seething look before turning around and rushing down the alley. If Chan is surprised by how easy it was to break up this fight, he doesn’t let it show, only watches as the hooded figure disappears around a corner.

Once he’s out of view, Chan turns around to the remaining person and almost reels back when he sees how young the boy is. The guy that just disappeared must have been over thirty, but this one can’t be more than a teenager.

“Are you okay?” Chan asks carefully. The younger doesn’t meet his gaze.

“I’m fine”, he mutters, his voice a bit raspy. “You can leave now.”

Chan furrows his brows. Obviously, this boy doesn’t know what type of person he is, but he definitely isn’t going to leave before making sure that this kid is fine.

“What’s your name?” Chan asks instead.

The boy casts a quick glance at Chan’s face before replying. He seems to hesitate for a moment, but whatever internal battle he’s having doesn’t take long.

“Seo Changbin.”

Chan smiles, even though the younger isn’t looking at him.

“I’m Bang Chan.” Changbin’s lip is bleeding, and the area around his left temple is red, probably going to bruise in a day or two.

Minho has teased him for how fast his parental instincts tend to jump out, and those instincts have only gotten worse (or maybe better?) after he spontaneously decided to take in Jisung and Felix.

After a few moments of Chan silently trying to inspect Changbin’s injuries without moving too close, Changbin raises his eyes again. He seems to be slightly surprised, probably by the fact that Chan hasn’t left yet, even though the other guy is gone and the fight is over.

Changbin must pick up on the concern in Chan’s eyes, because he speaks again.

“You can leave.” His voice sounds a lot more unsure now.

“How old are you?” Chan asks instead, and this time, the apprehension is obvious on Changbin’s face.

“I’ll be 18 soon”, he answers after another moment. So he’s a teenager, just like Chan guessed. All the more reason for Chan to stay and make sure he’s okay after everything that just went down.

“Does it hurt?” Chan gestures to the injuries on his face. Changbin actually scowls at this, though it looks more like he’s trying to mask whatever’s going on inside his head.

“What’s it to you?”

There’s a faint sizzling that has Chan turning his head slightly, but it fades after only a few seconds, and Chan decides to blame it on his enhanced hearing.

Changbin hasn’t managed to offend him, even though that’s what he’s trying to do. He might not be used to people caring about him in such an obvious way. Chan makes an expression that places somewhere between a smile and a grimace.

“Just because I don’t know you doesn’t mean I want you to hurt. Besides, my boyfriend is a doctor, so I’ve learned a few things from him and that looks like it’s gonna bruise.”

There’s something in Changbin’s eyes when he looks at Chan, as if he’s letting his guard down.

“I-… But, you don’t know me”, he says, and Chan snorts.

“Did you not hear what I just said? I still wouldn’t want you to be hurt. Also, you’re a kid,” Changbin scowls again, though it feels less serious this time, “and apparently I have a tendency to act like a bit of a parent.”

“A parent?” Changbin repeats. “Aren’t you, like, 25?”

Chan decides that it would be too weird to explain to a human that he’s actually been alive for almost 190 years, even though his body is only 23, and doesn’t mention his age.

“Yeah. But I’ve accidentally and spontaneously adopted kids in the past”, he says vaguely. “Obviously I’m not gonna kidnap you, but if you want help with those injuries, I’d be happy to.”

-

Chan realizes way too late that he should probably warn the rest of the family that he’s bringing a human to their apartment, and by too late, he means after opening the front door. In his defense, he’d temporarily forgotten what kind of family they are and what it might look like to an outsider.

The first thing they see after opening the front door is an armchair floating through the hallway, with Felix sitting in it. He’s giggling like mad as Jisung trails behind, obviously using some levitation spell to make it happen.

Chan tries to block Changbin’s view into the apartment and opens his mouth.

“Jisung, stop! Changbin’s a-…”

“A demon!” Jisung interrupts loudly, which has Chan frowning. He’d been about to say human. He definitely does not understand the delight in the younger’s voice, nor does he understand why Jisung would think Changbin is a demon.

He glances back at the boy behind him. There’s no change in Changbin’s expression except for a slight raise of his eyebrow, and he doesn’t even seem surprised by whatever’s going on in there, nor by the fact that Jisung just called him a demon.

“You are?” Chan asks, surprised. Changbin gives a short nod.

“Yeah. I take it none of you guys are human, either…?”

Chan shakes his head and lets out a small sigh before opening the door wider, figuring that he has nothing to hide. He hadn’t expected Changbin to be a demon, but it doesn’t change anything. Other than the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about accidentally exposing himself, that is.

“Well, come inside! It’s a mess, but it wouldn’t make sense for me to apologize for that, because it’s always a mess.”

They both step inside just as Jisung disappears down the hall toward the living room with the armchair, bringing Felix with him.

“Those are the adopted kids I mentioned”, Chan says with a gesture toward the doorway the two boys disappeared through. “Jisung’s a warlock, and Felix is a cyborg. They’re very chaotic. Still love them, though.”

Changbin nods. He’s looking around the apartment, and Chan stays quiet to let the boy take it in. It’s hard to read Changbin’s face. Chan obviously doesn’t know the boy very well yet, but he gets the impression that Changbin is purposely trying to avoid showing any feelings on his face. Not sure why.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Changbin asks. It takes Chan a moment to realize what he’s talking about, having forgotten why the demon boy is here in the first place.

“He’s at work right now, but we have a first aid kit in the bathroom that I’ve used a few times in the past. Those kids you just saw aren’t always the most… careful.”

That’s an understatement, but Changbin doesn’t have to know that.

The boy nods again, turning to look at Chan.

“So, where’s the bathroom?” he asks.

“This way.”

Chan leads them further into the apartment, past one of the bedrooms and into the bathroom at the end of the hallway. Changbin doesn’t say much, but Chan can see him looking at everything they walk past. The demon looks intrigued by the things he sees.

The bedroom they pass is very lived in, which is just a fancy way of saying that it’s a mess. Jisung and Felix aren’t exactly the best cleaners in the world. It’s okay, though. At least they keep most of the mess in their bedrooms and don’t spread it to the rest of the apartment.

Chan opens one of the cabinets to get something to clean the cuts with, and maybe something for the bruise that’s probably going to form around his temple.

He gestures for Changbin to take a seat on the toilet before getting to work on treating his injuries.

They don’t speak. Chan is focused on what he’s doing, and Changbin looks like he’s lost in thought. The silence allows them both to hear their own thoughts better.

Once Chan deems that he’s done a good enough job with the boy’s face, he leans back, and that’s when Changbin snaps back to the present. He blinks at Chan, who smiles at him.

“Why are they living with you?” Changbin questions. If Chan is fazed by the sudden question, he doesn’t show it.

“Jisung and Felix?” he asks. Changbin nods. “Well, it’s not really my story to tell, but they both come from horrible families. In Jisung’s case, he doesn’t know who his real parents are, and Felix’s biological ones are dead. I adopted Jisung first, because I knew I could give him a better home than the one he would have ended up in otherwise.”

“And Felix?”

“His step-mom wasn’t a pleasant person. Me and my boyfriend realized that he was suffering, so we came to an agreement with his step-mom, and it’s been the four of us since then.”

Changbin frowns. Chan waits, letting him process it at his own pace.

“But… You didn’t have to do that”, he eventually says. “They would have survived without you. Maybe not as easy, but they had other options. You didn’t have to do what you did.”

Chan nods. Changbin is right, he didn’t have to do any of what he did. That doesn’t mean he regrets it.

“That’s true. I still did it, because it was the right thing to do. I’m not a perfect parent, but Jisung and Felix are happy, and so am I. That’s all I want.”

Changbin stares at him with another expression that Chan isn’t sure how to read. He stays quiet once again, not wanting to interrupt the boy’s thoughts. As much as he’s curious to hear what Changbin thinks about this, and why their family situation is so interesting to him, he knows it’s better to let Changbin ask the questions.

“You said you’re a vampire”, he starts, and Chan nods. “But one of them is a warlock, and the other is basically human.”

“A cyborg, but yes. That’s right.”

“Isn’t that… I dunno, weird? How can a vampire know how to raise a warlock?”

Changbin doesn’t sound like he’s trying to belittle Chan’s ability to raise a child, and the older isn’t offended by the way he phrases the question. Changbin is just trying to understand.

Chan takes a second to think about how to respond, because it’s something he’s thought a lot about, himself. Changbin does have a point. As a vampire, he didn’t know much about warlocks when he first took Jisung in. He’s a lot better now. It’s been a learning process.

“They’re different from me, sure, and it’s been hard, but probably not for the reasons you think.” Chan pauses. “I can’t help Jisung with his powers as much as I want to, but I’m not going to beat myself up over it, because that’s not what a parent is. I’m not his teacher. He has other people that teach him to control his abilities. All I do is love and care for him, in any way I can. That’s what family is. Our differences matter, but they don’t define our relationship. I don’t look at him and see a warlock, the same way I don’t look at Felix and see a cyborg. I just see my kids.”

Chan is starting to suspect that Changbin might not come from the best of families. Chan’s situation probably doesn’t fit with the way Changbin thinks about family, which could be why the boy is so curious about it.

He puts the first aid kit away, and Changbin stands up from the toilet seat. He seems to be deep in thought. The two of them head out from the bathroom and back down the hallway, the same way they came earlier.

“Have you had dinner yet?” Chan asks. He doesn’t want to ask anything too personal, but he can’t lie. He’s kind of worried about Changbin. Who knows if his parents are even in his life? After all, demons aren’t known for raising their children. They usually leave them at birth and only show up again once the child is old enough to handle themselves.

It’s those damn parental instincts again. He just can’t leave anyone under the age of 18 alone, especially not kids who seem to lack good parental figures in their lives. If Minho could see him right now, he would be rolling his eyes and maybe even laughing at Chan.

“No, I haven’t”, Changbin says. “That’s what the fight was about earlier. We both tried to steal from the same place, and then it kind of escalated.” He casts a worried glance at Chan after this, almost as if he didn’t mean to say that. “I didn’t steal, though! I only thought about doing it. You can’t turn me in to the police for thinking about doing something.”

They’ve stopped in the middle of the hallway, turned to face each other.

“I wasn’t gonna turn you in to the police, anyway”, Chan says, looking at Changbin and trying to make sure that he can feel the honesty in his words. “But why did you have to steal food? Shouldn’t an adult be responsible for you, and make sure you get to eat?”

Changbin’s expression closes off again. Chan internally curses himself, worried that the kid is going to ignore his question now.

“My dad died two months ago”, he says. His voice sounds empty. Chan opens his mouth, but Changbin continues before he can say anything. “It’s okay, though, he was an asshole. He never wanted me in the first place. My mom has been trying to find me since he died, but I don’t want to live with her, so I’ve been avoiding her.”

“Is she a demon?”

If Changbin has been raised by his dad, then the most logical conclusion would be that his dad is a human and his mom is where he got his demon genes.

Changbin nods.

Anyone who’s known Chan for more than five minutes can probably predict what he's going to do next.

“Do you wanna stay for dinner?” he asks.

Changbin nods again.

-

Minho gets home right as Chan and Jisung finish making dinner (letting the young boy into the kitchen had been a bit of a gamble on Chan’s part, but today must have been a good day, because nothing is on fire). While they cook, Felix keeps Changbin busy by basically interrogating him over the dinner table.

Chan is very grateful that Felix sticks to light topics. He doesn’t mention Changbin’s family, and doesn’t ask why his face is injured. Felix has plenty of things to talk about even without mentioning those subjects.

Minho doesn’t usually announce his presence, but Chan hears the front door open and close. There’s no one else it could be, so he shouts,

“Hi Minho! We’re in the kitchen.”

“I can hear that”, his boyfriend responds, and a second later, he appears in the doorway. Minho smiles at Chan, but then he stops and does a head count. Chan can see the confusion on his face as his eyes land on Changbin. “Channie, when did we get a third child?”

Changbin is already looking at Minho. When Felix hears the fae’s voice, he also turns around and smiles brightly at him.

“This is Changbin!” Felix introduces the newcomer. “He likes hip hop and rap, eats blue cheese on pizza, and his favorite season is fall.”

Minho raises his eyebrows.

“That answers none of my questions, but okay.”

Changbin seems a bit wary of Minho, but not as wary as he had been when Chan first found him.

“My name’s Changbin”, he says. “I’m just staying for dinner.”

Minho nods, casting a quick glance at Chan. He doesn’t look like he believes that. Not that he thinks Changbin is lying, but he knows his boyfriend, and there’s no way Chan will let Changbin leave unless he’s completely sure the kid will be fine. If he’s staying for dinner, he’s probably not in a good situation. Minho can already imagine how this evening is going to go.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Changbin”, he says, going to take a seat by the table. “I’m Minho, and I’m the one with all the impulse control in this family.”

“I can imagine that”, Changbin says with a small grin.

Chan tries to ignore how that’s most likely a jab at him and his own lack of impulse control, and instead helps Jisung carry the bowls over to the table. Once the food is served, they sit down.

“Is the food salted?” Changbin asks. He almost seems suspicious of the food, with the way he’s eyeing it.

“No”, Chan answers. “But there’s salt on the table, if you want?”

“Oh, no!” Changbin shakes his head. “I was asking because I can’t eat anything with salt in it.”

Chan raises his eyebrows.

“You should’ve said so earlier”, he says, trying not to sound accusing. Accidentally poisoning Changbin would have been a pretty bad way to start off this relationship.

Changbin only shrugs, and they go back to filling their plates after that.

“Changbin, can you pass me a tissue?” Jisung asks a few minutes later.

Changbin speaks up to correct the younger as he reaches for the tissues.

“Hyung.”

Jisung only frowns at the Changbin’s attempt at reminding him of the honorific, and accepts the tissue from him.

“Why are you calling me hyung? I’m younger than you”, Jisung comments.

Changbin gives him an unimpressed look.

“Yeah, which means I’m older. You should be calling me hyung.”

Jisung turns to Chan, looking for confirmation, and Chan nods with a small smile. It’s kind of funny. Despite knowing how honorifics work in theory, Jisung still forgets to apply that theory to real life a lot of the time. At least he’s better at it now than when he first came here.

Dinner is calm, at least by their standards. Jisung and Felix are being loud as per usual, but Changbin doesn’t seem too bothered by it. He actually joins in on their conversation a lot of the time.

Felix has already talked to Changbin, so Chan had expected those two to get along, but even Jisung, despite not loving strangers, seems curious to know more about Changbin. Once they start discussing music, Chan and Minho lose any chance they might have to ask Changbin anything. The three kids give them no opportunities to discuss anything other than what they’re talking about.

When Jisung finds out that Changbin likes rap and even writes his own lyrics is when the atmosphere goes from “having a guest over for dinner” and turns into “normal family mealtime”. At least, that’s how it feels. Changbin obviously isn’t part of their family, even if it feels that way.

“I wrote a song called _Hip fuck sin_ once, but Chan hyung never lets me sing it”, Jisung tells Changbin, making sure to glare at Chan while he speaks. Chan knows he isn’t serious and takes no offense at this. “But it’s okay, because I guess it made me write better songs after that.”

“Maybe we could write something together sometime”, Changbin says, and Jisung nods.

Chan doesn’t know why he’s surprised that Changbin wants to keep in contact with them. Not that he had expecting the demon to disappear from their lives as soon as this night is over, but Chan knows he gets attached too quickly (it’s those damn parental instincts). It sometimes catches him off-guard that other people have their own wants and wishes, and that their wants and wishes can line up with what Chan’s wants. A mind-boggling concept, really.

-

“Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?”

Changbin pauses. The fact that he even has to think about it is enough of an answer to Chan, but he still gives the boy a chance to say something.

Jisung and Felix are busy with the dishes, and Minho is standing behind them to keep them focused on the task, which leaves Chan and Changbin alone by the table. He knows any chance he has of talking to Changbin will be gone as soon as the twins return, so he has to do it now.

“I mean, there’s a dance studio close to the alley where you met me, and the owner sometimes lets me sleep in the changing room while he’s working on choreographies late at night”, Changbin replies. “I was just gonna go there to see if he’s working tonight, and sleep there if I can.”

Chan glances at Minho before responding. The fae has been listening to what they’re saying, and he gives him a small nod, knowing exactly what Chan is going to suggest.

“You could always stay here.” Changbin’s eyes snap up to meet Chan’s, and the older continues. “We have an extra mattress we could put in Felix’s room, if you want, and there’s always the couch. Only if you want to, of course. We’re not gonna force you to stay if you don’t want to.”

Changbin looks between Chan and Minho, noticing that the fae has been listening in on them and already given his permission to this. He turns back to Chan.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Some people would say that Minho and Chan make their adoptions too quickly. Maybe they do. In their defense, they can’t formally adopt Changbin, since his mom is still alive and won’t want to sign over her guardianship.

He’s turning 18 in a month, so they only have to keep his mother away from him until then.

-

“Chan hyung”, Changbin says, walking up to where Chan is sitting by the table in the kitchen with a cup of tea. The older looks up from his phone.

“Yeah?”

“Remember when I told you about the choreographer who used to let me sleep in his dance studio? I just remembered that I left my notebook with lyrics there, so I was wondering if I could go get it. The studio opens at 10, so Yugyeom hyung should be there now.”

“Yugyeom? As in Kim Yugyeom, dancer and demon? Bambam’s boyfriend?” Chan asks. Changbin nods, a bit hesitant. He honestly doesn’t know that much about the guy. Chan continues. “Oh, I know him! His boyfriend is one of my best friends. Is Yugyeom the one who’s been helping you?”

“Yeah. I didn’t realize you knew him.”

Chan shrugs, a small smile on his face as he sips from his tea.

Minho enters the kitchen.

“Channie knows everyone”, he says, opening the refrigerator and grabbing the milk, not even sparing the other two a glance. “It gets annoying after a while. You can mention any supernatural person in the city, and he’ll have some sort of connection to them. I don’t know how he does it.”

Changbin looks surprised.

“That’s… cool”, he comments. “But I still need to get my notebook.”

“I can go with you”, Minho offers. “I have some herbs I need to drop off for Yugyeom, anyway.”

“You know him too?” Changbin asks. Minho only smiles smugly at him in response, and the boy shakes his head. “Okay, forget I asked. Of course you do.”


	4. 4419

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You sound like the kind of person people tell me to avoid", he comments. "I mean, isn't that basically kidnapping? You can't just adopt any kid you see. And you said your third kid wasn't even legally adopted? Yeah, that's kidnapping."
> 
> Is Hyunjin wrong to make these accusations? No. Does Chan have any idea how to convince Hyunjin that he's not a creepy kidnapper? No, not really.
> 
> Is he still going to try? Hell yes.

Chan looks up at the grand building and thinks that it’s been quite a while since he last visited the council.

He walks the familiar way through the front doors and past the reception, going down the hallway toward Bambam’s office, getting a strange sense of déjà vu as he walks. At least there’s no random child in the office when he enters it this time.

His friend doesn’t even look up at the sound of the door closing.

“Hey”, Chan says, grinning when Bambam snaps his eyes up and notices him. A grins spreads across his face.

“Channie!” he exclaims, walking around the desk and going in for a hug. “How did the trial go? It feels like I haven’t seen you in years!”

“You came over for dinner just last week, though”, Chan says as they pull away from each other. “It hasn’t even been that long. But the trial went well, as expected. Binnie won the case, so I guess we won’t be seeing his mom for a long time now.”

“I can’t believe he tried to sue his mom for giving birth to him, and actually won the case… That’s wild. But you haven’t gotten any news kids since then, right?”

Chan laughs.

“Oh no, I have plenty to do already. My house is full.”

He’s barely finished his sentence when there’s a knock on the door. Both of them turn toward it at the same time, Bambam standing a little straighter before calling out.

“Come in!”

They both stand back and watch as the door opens, and a familiar face peeks inside. Bambam drops his professional act as soon as he sees who it is.

“Jihyo, hi! I didn’t know you were working today”, he comments. The woman smiles at him.

“Me neither”, she admits. “But there was an emergency, so I had to stop by. I’m supposed to be having a meeting with our supernatural representative in the human government, though, so I kind of need your help.” She looks around the room and notices Chan’s presence. “Oh! Hi Channie. I didn’t know you were here.”

“I’m just visiting Bambam”, he says, smiling at her. “But what was the emergency?”

She takes a step back, and the two men inside the room get a clear view of what’s behind her. Or more accurately, who’s behind her.

“Has my office just become the place where you send all the stray kids you find?” Bambam asks jokingly, even as he opens the door wider to allow the young boy entrance. He doesn’t look like he’s much older than Jisung and Felix, Chan thinks as he watches the boy step inside.

Jihyo speaks up again.

“Some human cops found him and sent him to us. He hasn’t said a word since he arrived, so I don’t know what his name is. I know nothing except that he was trying to run away from home, which is what I was told by the cops that caught him.”

Both Bambam and Chan look the boy over. He’s taller than Chan, but he can’t be any older than 18, not if he’s running away from home. If Chan was to take a guess, he’d say the boy is the same age as Jisung and Felix.

Someone’s phone buzzes, and Jihyo excuses herself to answer it. She disappears down the hallway again, leaving the two of them alone with the teenager.

Bambam goes to sit down behind his desk, only to stop in the middle of a step.

“Shit. Jihyo forgot to give me his file. Wait here, I’ll be right back.” He turns his eyes to Chan. “Don’t kidnap the kid while I’m gone.”

“No promises”, Chan jokes, watching as Bambam disappears through the same door Jihyo just did.

He turns to look at the boy that she brought here, startling when he finds that the other is already looking at him. The tall boy is standing, twisting his hands in a nervous manner, but his eyes don’t waver when they meet Chan’s.

“Do you work here?” he asks. Chan shakes his head, slightly surprised to hear him speak. Jihyo just told them that he hasn’t said a word since he got there.

“No”, Chan says. “I’m Bambam’s friend, so I’m just visiting. My name is Chan, by the way.” The boy nods slowly, his eyes moving over Chan’s face as if he’s looking for any clue that he’s lying. Chan decides to test his luck. “What’s your name?”

The boy ignores the question.

“Don’t make them send me back”, he says instead, sounding almost pleading. Chan tries hard not to frown at that. “Please. Don’t make me go back.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t have to be anywhere you don’t want to be”, Chan says. The boy is clearly worried about something. “But I can’t help you unless I know what’s going on.”

The teen shakes his head.

“No, you can’t know. If you know, you might tell them, and if you tell them, they’re going to send me back. They have to. Isn’t that their job?”

Chan doesn’t feel like delving into what exactly the council does, but sending kids back to their parents isn’t the only thing they do. Their first job is to protect the supernatural population. Since this boy is here right now, he’s obviously part of that population, meaning that their first priority will be to make sure he’s safe.

“If you don’t want to go back, they won’t make you”, Chan tells him. “If you’re in a situation you don’t wanna be in, there’s obviously something wrong, and if there’s something wrong, we could help with that.”

“I thought you said you don’t work here.”

“I don’t”, Chan ensures him. The boy seems a bit wary of the council, or maybe it’s more about the power they hold as an organization. Either way, he doesn’t look like he’s the biggest fan of them. “But they’ve helped me save three kids from pretty bad situations, so I trust them.”

“You’re a parent?” the boy asks, and Chan can tell that he’s surprised by this. Most people are. Chan doesn’t exactly look his age.

“Yeah. I’m older than I look, being a vampire and all that.” He waves his hand dismissively. “My point here is that the council can be good, but they can only help you if they know what the situation is. If all they know is that you ran away from home, they might send you back, but if you tell them why you did it, they can help.”

Chan has barely finished his sentence when the door opens and Bambam returns. He stops in the doorway, glancing suspiciously between the two of them before closing the door.

“You haven’t even let the poor kid sit down?” he asks Chan.

“It’s not my office”, Chan protests. “You’re the responsible one here.”

A highly debatable statement, but sure. What Chan means is that Bambam is the one employed here. Neither of them are very responsible if you want to get technical. The fact that Chan has three kids might put him a bit above Bambam on the responsibility scale, though.

Bambam gestures to the empty chair on the other side of his desk, next to where Chan is sitting.

“Sorry about that. Sit, please.”

The boy casts a quick glance at Chan before doing so. Once he’s seated, Bambam flips open the file, which Chan notices is very thin. Makes sense, considering Jihyo didn’t even know the boy’s name. They don’t have a lot of information on him.

“So, what’s your name?” Bambam asks. For some reason, Chan feels nervous. He wants the boy to ask for help, but he’s not sure if his words got through to him earlier or if the boy still doesn’t want to talk to anyone from the council about what he’s going through. Not that Chan actually knows what he’s going through. He probably shouldn’t care this much already, but he does.

“Hyunjin”, the boy mumbles. Chan smiles, while Bambam nods.

“Good. And it says here that you told the cops you’re seventeen years old. Is that true?”

Hyunjin nods.

So, Chan was right. He’s the same age as Jisung and Felix.

“You were caught by a group of human cops while trying to run away from home. Right?”

Hyunjin nods again. He opens and closes his mouth as if he’s about to say something. The other two in the room wait for him to find the words, giving Hyunjin time.

“I was running away from my mom’s sister”, he eventually says, eyes fixed on the desk in front of him. “My mom and dad disappeared in a storm when I was a kid, so she’s the one who raised me, but she hates me. I honestly didn’t think she would notice that I was running away.”

Bambam and Chan exchange a glance.

“Well, so far, it doesn’t seem like she has”, Bambam says. Hyunjin looks up and finally meets his eyes. “At least she hasn’t called you in as missing. The only reason the cops sent you here is because you’re underage and supernatural, so they assumed you were running away from home, which I guess they were right about.”

Chan knows he’s not even supposed to be here right now, but he physically can’t keep quiet any longer.

“When you said your aunt hates you”, he starts, “what did you mean by that?”

Hyunjin plays with the sleeves on his hoodie.

“I mean, she doesn’t really acknowledge me most of the time, and when she does, it’s usually to complain about something I’ve done wrong, or to nag at me about cleaning or cooking.”

“Does your aunt have legal custody over you?” Bambam asks after a quick glance at Chan. Chan hates that his friend knows him so well, but he’s not complaining, because he also wants to know Hyunjin’s answer to this. If the answer is no… Well, Chan has made more impulsive decisions in the past.

“I don’t think so…?” he trails off. “Maybe. She’s told me that the only reason she hasn’t kicked me out yet is because she owes something to my mom, but I don’t know how the legal system works, to be honest. I’ve never had to think about that before.”

“What’s your surname?” Bambam asks. “I can go look you up. I should be able to see if she’s your legal guardian or not.”

“Hwang”, Hyunjin replies. Bambam nods, and then he’s gone again.

-

Chan sticks around for another full hour of discussing and learning about Hyunjin’s family, as well as trying to figure out where to go from here. He’s pretty sure Bambam already suspects what Chan is planning to do, even if he hasn’t mentioned anything yet.

Turns out his aunt doesn’t have full custody over him, since she never signed any papers after Hyunjin’s parents disappeared. In the records, it says than an investigation started a month after they disappeared, and his aunt stated that she didn’t want to sign anything until it was sure that his parents were dead, which they could never prove, and the investigation was put on hold after that.

“Technically, if a better suited guardian wanted to take you from your aunt, all they would have to do is sign a paper”, Bambam says. “Your aunt would still be able to claim custody of you after that, but from what you’ve told me, it doesn’t sound like she’d want to do that. If she tries to claim custody of you, we would have to take the issue to court, and even though she has a lot of things going against her, it could take a lot of time. You turn eighteen in a month, and I doubt the case would be finished by then, which makes it unlikely that she would even try.”

Hyunjin nods, before frowning.

“But there’s no one else who’d want to be my guardian”, he says. “I don’t have any other family.”

Bambam sighs.

“Have you heard about Channie’s kids yet?” he asks. Hyunjin looks at Chan with a frown.

“I mean, I know that he has kids, but that’s all I know about it. Why?”

Chan is trying really hard not to grin.

“Uh, so, here’s the thing”, he starts. “I decided to adopt the first one – Jisung – after knowing him for about ten minutes. The second one – Felix – was more my boyfriend’s fault, really, but that decision was also made on a whim. The third kid isn’t legally adopted by us, but we never really planned to take him in, either. Things just… happened.”

Bambam looks between the two of them and takes over.

“I like to say that Chan has these unexplainable parental instincts that take over his mind the second he sees a person under the age of 18, and since he has no impulse control, he’ll adopt anyone in the need of a parental figure. It would be a bad thing, but turns him and his boyfriend are really good parents, so I guess it’s okay. I’m only slightly worried about him. Not too much.”

Hyunjin gives Chan a look.

“You sound like the kind of person people tell me to avoid”, he comments. “I mean, isn’t that basically kidnapping? You can’t just adopt any kid you see. And you said your third kid wasn’t even legally adopted? Yeah, that’s kidnapping.”

Is Hyunjin wrong to make these accusations? No. Does Chan have any idea how to convince Hyunjin that he’s not a creepy kidnapper? No, not really.

Is he still going to try? Hell yes.

“I’m not saying I have to adopt you”, Chan says. “Especially not if this feels too sudden for you, and you’d rather wait for a better option…”

“I never said that”, Hyunjin interrupts. “I don’t wanna wait. You can’t be any worse than my aunt, plus you already have kids, so you’re already better than her, since they haven’t tried to run away from you yet. Wait, have they?”

He turns to Bambam at that last part, probably wanting an unbiased answer.

Bambam grins.

“No, not yet”, he answers. “All three of them are very much still there, and from what I’ve heard, they’re not planning on leaving anytime soon.”

“Okay, good. Then my answer is yes. Wait, shit, you didn’t even ask yet.”

Chan smiles before realizing something.

“Hang on, I need to call my boyfriend. Last time I adopted someone without him, we had to come back to the council so he could sign the papers. It’d be easier if we both do it at the same time.”

“How do you know he’s going to say yes?” Hyunjin asks, doubt seeping into his voice. “You haven’t even talked to him yet.”

Chan shakes his head with a small sigh.

“I know exactly how this is going to go. I tell him about it, he says no and makes some argument about how we don’t have enough beds, or not enough time for another kid, then he’ll complain a little, and when I say that we don’t have to adopt anyone, he’ll tell me to shut up and that he’s already on his way here.”

That is exactly how it goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chan: no more kids, my house is full!
> 
> also chan: but what if... i adopted... Another Kid????


	5. School life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment later, they hear some yelling from out in the living room, followed by a muted crash. Jeongin looks up at the two adults in surprise. Chan only sighs and puts his face in his hands.
> 
> "Was that the kids you were talking about?" Jeongin wonders, and Minho nods. He doesn't look worried about whatever's going on out there.
> 
> "Most likely, yes."

“Do you have some sort of father-complex you’ve never told me about? Some deep-rooted issues, maybe from your own upbringing? Seriously Channie. This is our fifth kid in less than three years.”

“He’s not our kid”, Chan protests, though he can see himself that it’s a weak defense, and the boy currently passed out across their bed doesn’t really help his case. But really, what was he supposed to do? Let the boy walk out into the street right when there was a car coming? No, he would’ve been dead! And maybe it wasn’t necessary for Chan to bring the boy back to their apartment, but he seemed really exhausted and could barely speak properly. Chan was just doing what any decent person would have done.

Minho is a bit exasperated, but that reaction might be warranted considering the amount of times this has happened.

However, the four boys currently crowding the doorway aren’t exasperated in the slightest. Jisung is on Hyunjin’s back, and Felix is on the floor between Hyunjin’s legs to make sure that all three of them get a proper view of what’s happening inside the room. Changbin is standing right next to them, and the couple over by the bed can’t even be bothered to ask them to leave. They’ve long since given up on the concept of privacy.

Minho gives his boyfriend a pointed look.

“If it turns out that his family isn’t good, or that his parents aren’t present in his life, everyone already knows that he’ll become our kid”, Minho says, and Chan really can’t argue with that.

If that’s the case, he knows that Minho will come around pretty quickly. After all, the other kids are already invested in the boy on the bed, despite barely having spoken to him.

Both Felix and Hyunjin love new people, and Changbin may pretend to be tough, but in reality, he’s very affectionate toward his family. Jisung might have a bit of a problem with strangers, but Chan knows this boy will be different. It had taken Jisung almost a month to get used to Hyunjin, but he already seems interested in this one.

When Chan had arrived with the boy last night, Jisung had been the first person to bounce up to them to see what was going on. In a clearly sleep-deprived state, the boy hanging on Chan’s shoulder had reached out a hand to touch Jisung’s newly dyed blue hair and mumbled a quiet “Wow, so pretty”, before promptly passing out on the parents’ bed. Despite the short encounter, Chan could tell Jisung took an immediate liking to the boy, and not only because of the compliment.

Chan is brought back to the present as a voice speaks up from the door behind him.

“His essence is, like, super bright. Super-duper bright”, Jisung comments from where he’s sitting on Hyunjin’s back. The young warlock has gotten a lot better at sensing people’s essences recently, and now, it’s one of the first things he picks up on when he meets someone new. So far, he hasn’t managed to identify what exactly the boy is, but he’s clearly not a human. Chan hadn’t even known as much when he brought the boy home.

Minho turns to the kids in the doorway.

“We know. You’ve said so multiple times already”, he responds. Jisung only furrows his brows in thought, still trying to figure out what kind of essence it is he’s sensing from the stranger. Minho turns back to Chan. “Now what?”

“We wait for him to wake up, obviously”, Changbin answers from where he’s standing in the doorway, despite the question being directed at Chan.

“An angel!” Jisung suddenly exclaims. Minho feels like he’s about to get whiplash from the fast turns of this conversation, and the kids in the doorway aren’t exactly helping. All he’s trying to do is talk to Chan about the stranger currently passed out on their bed. It’s not going too well.

“An angel?” Hyunjin repeats questioningly. “What the hell are you on about, Sungie?”

Chan doesn’t have time to scold Hyunjin for the curse word before Jisung’s excited reply comes.

“He’s an angel!” Jisung informs them. “The boy on the bed, I mean. He’s an angel.”

“Oh!” Hyunjin’s face lights up, and he turns to stare at the stranger on the bed with renewed curiosity. “Do you think he can fly? Ohmygod, what if he has wings? That’d be so cool!”

“We haven’t seen any wings”, Changbin comments. “I don’t think he has any.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Sure. Three chicken nuggets?”

“You’re on.”

Chan isn’t sure when the chicken nugget bets started, but they’ve been happening regularly the past few months. It might have been Hyunjin who started it. Either way, his kids now have a habit of using chicken nuggets as some sort of currency when they make bets with each other. Chan doesn’t really care. At least it’s better than using real money.

“Maybe all of us shouldn’t stand here and stare at him when he wakes up”, Felix says, glancing around at the other boys. “We might freak him out. That wouldn’t make a good first impression. Or, technically second impression, if you count yesterday.”

“Oh, you’re right”, Changbin nods.

“Kids, shoo”, Minho says, only half joking. He makes a motion as if he’s trying to wave them away, and for once in his life, his kids actually listen to him. After casting a few more curious glances at the boy on the bed, all four of them disappear out into the living room.

Minho turns back to Chan.

“So, what now?” he asks.

Turns out, they don’t have to come up with anything. The boy on the bed mumbles and turns in his sleep, seeming like he’s close to waking up. Minho and Chan look at each other before turning back to the boy.

He turns a few more times before opening his eyes.

Minho instinctively takes a step back, realizing that he might be standing a bit too close to the bed and wanting to avoid scaring the kid. On the other side of the bed, Chan does the same.

The boy’s eyes find them quickly, and he looks between the two adults, his face contorting into a frown as he does.

“Where am I?” he asks, moving to sit up. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Bang Chan, and this is my boyfriend Minho”, Chan starts, gesturing to himself and then the fae. Minho gives a small wave when the boy looks at him. “I saved you from being run over yesterday, and then you almost passed out, so I brought you back to my apartment to rest.”

The boy nods slowly, and Minho can see him relax a bit now that he realizes they don’t pose an immediate threat to him.

“What’s your name?” Minho asks him, figuring that they should probably start with the basics. As much as he makes fun of Chan for his tendency to adopt just about anyone, he can’t say he’s much better himself. After all, he’s never tried to stop Chan. That must say something.

“I’m Jeongin. Thanks for saving me.”

He even attempts a little bow, but since he’s sitting down, it’s more like he’s curling into himself. Minho wants to coo at how cute he looks.

“No problem”, Chan responds, his smile widening a bit. “Would you like some breakfast? All of us decided to wait until you woke up, so we could see if you wanted to eat with us.”

“All of us?” Jeongin repeats, scrunching his nose up.

“Us and the kids”, Minho says as explanation. “We have four of them.”

Jeongin’s eyes widen. He probably hadn’t been expecting them to be parents, given how young they look.

“Not actual children”, Chan interjects. After all, their kids aren’t toddlers, so he doesn’t want Jeongin to get the wrong idea. “They’re all teenagers. I doubt you’re older than any of them.”

Jeongin nods slowly, processing their words. He then nods a bit more firmly and opens his mouth to respond to the question they asked.

“Okay. And yeah, I’d like breakfast. Thank you.”

A moment later, they hear some yells from out in the living room, followed by a muted crash. Jeongin looks up at the two adults in surprise. Chan only sighs and puts his face in his hands.

“Was that the kids you were talking about?” Jeongin wonders, and Minho nods. He doesn’t look worried about whatever’s going on out there.

“Most likely, yes.”

Chan takes his hands away from his face and gives Jeongin a look that's filled with regret.

“We should probably go take a look at the mess they’re causing right now”, he says.

-

“It’s been four months!” Changbin shouts, almost tripping and falling off the coffee table that he’s currently standing on. “Four fucking months! When are you going to get over it?”

“Never!” Hyunjin yells back in reply, before giggling and jumping to take cover behind one of the armchairs just as Changbin lifts his gun to aim at him. His nerf gun, that is. They’re in the middle of a war.

“The naked butt incident will always be relevant”, Jisung chimes in from somewhere behind Changbin’s back. The older whips around in a split second, pressing down the trigger before getting a good aim at Jisung. The bullet ends up hitting Chan instead, who just stepped into the living room. Minho stifles a giggle right behind him, while Jeongin stares at the scene he just walked into.

Hyunjin starts laughing like a maniac.

Chan fixes Changbin with an unimpressed stare, and the boy immediately steps down from the coffee table and puts his gun on the floor before raising his hands in surrender.

“I’m innocent”, he says, which is kind of unnecessary considering every single person in this house just saw his fire the shot that hit Chan. There’s no question about who did it. Everyone saw him.

“Yeah, sure”, Chan says with a huff. “And I definitely didn’t hear you talking about the naked butt incident right before I came into the room.”

“That actually wasn’t me”, Changbin tells him. This time, it’s true. “That was Jisung and Hyunjin.”

“Is that why you were trying to shoot them?” Minho asks. “Because they brought up the naked butt incident?”

“What’s the naked butt incident?” Jeongin wonders, and this makes everyone in the room turn to him. Hyunjin gets up from where he’d been taking cover behind an armchair, and Jisung goes to stand next to him. Even Felix appears seemingly out of nowhere, probably having taken cover behind the couch or something while the others were having their war.

“The naked butt incident is what happened the first time I met Changbin hyung”, Hyunjin answers after a few seconds. “I was adopted four months ago, and when I entered the apartment the first time, I saw Changbin hyung’s naked ass standing in the hallway.”

“Don’t cuss”, Chan says, but no one is listening to him.

“How was I supposed to know that Chan hyung was gonna adopt another supernatural on that specific day?” Changbin exclaims, not registering that he just exposed them as supernaturals to Jeongin. He misses the way Jeongin’s eyes widen at the information. “I forgot to bring a towel when I showered, it’s not my fault I had to walk past the front door to get one!”

“Anyway, I was traumatized”, Hyunjin continues as if there was never an interruption at all. “And I haven’t let him forget about it since.”

Jeongin is still staring at them with wide eyes, and now his mouth is slightly open as well. The rest of them can’t figure out why he seems so surprised, not until he starts talking.

“You guys are supernaturals?”

Chan’s eyes widen in realization.

“Oh shit, we didn’t tell you!”

“Don’t cuss”, Hyunjin says, mocking Chan’s voice from earlier. Chan very maturely sticks his tongue out at Hyunjin (wow, great parenting skills, Chan). Minho only shakes his head at the way his boyfriend acts just as much like a kid as their actual children.

“Yeah!” Jisung says to Jeongin when it becomes clear that everyone else has lost track of the conversation. “We are. And you’re an angel.”

It’s kind of surprising that they haven’t managed to overwhelm Jeongin yet. Or maybe they have, and he’s just not showing it. Either way, they’re throwing a lot at him right now, and it’s understandable that all he can do in response is nod.

“Yup”, he confirms. He doesn’t even question how Jisung knows this. “I’m an angel, and I’m hungry. Can we please eat now?”

At least he has his priorities straight.

-

During breakfast, Jeongin learns what kind of supernaturals they all are, and he gets to hear their backstories very briefly. They skip over all the serious parts, though.

Jisung says that he grew up in Malaysia, but doesn’t mention that it was because he was kidnapped as a child or that he wasn’t allowed to leave the house at all when he was there. Felix says that he used to work as a car mechanic, but doesn’t bring up his abusive step-mom or her hatred for him. Changbin skips pretty much everything about his family and only says that he’s a demon, and that Chan saved him from someone evil. Hyunjin says that he ran away from home, and that he’s lived with Chan and Minho ever since.

Once they’re all finished, both with eating and with telling their stories, Jeongin looks around at them. He takes a breath.

“Thank you so much for helping me yesterday”, Jeongin starts. Chan tries to wave him off, but he continues. “And I feel like you deserve to know something about me. I mean, you basically told me your entire life stories.”

“You don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable sharing”, Chan hurries to say. “But if you want us to know, we’ll listen.”

Jeongin nods with a small smile.

“Yeah. It’s okay.” He takes a breath. “So, uh, the reason I was so tired yesterday is because… Because a lot of things happened. I guess I’ll just give you the short version of it…?”

He sounds a bit hesitant, but they all nod in encouragement, listening intently to what Jeongin is saying.

“That’s fine”, Minho ensures him. “Tell us as much or as little as you want to. There’s no need to rush, take your time.”

“Okay. So, my best friend was turned into a werewolf this week.” Jeongin gives them no time to process that statement before he continues. “And I’ve kind of been living with him my entire life. We grew up together, since my parents were too busy being angels to take care of me full-time, so he’s always been like a brother to me. His mom is basically my mom. Anyway, he got turned to a werewolf and tried to kill me earlier this week, and his mom said I’m not allowed to see him now, which is why I’ve been wandering around and trying to find a new place to live.”

Well… That’s certainly something.

Chan blinks, still trying to process. It takes several moments for his brain to catch up with what Jeongin just told them. Based on the silence around the table, the others are in a similar state right now.

“I mean, you could always stay here”, Chan eventually says. He looks at Minho just in time to catch the fae rolling his eyes, not at all surprised by Chan’s suggestion. Chan ignores him. “It doesn’t have to be permanent if you don’t want that, but until you can find a new place. Or it could be permanent. It’s up to you, really.”

“Yes, Dad Chan back at it again with the spontaneous adoptions!” Felix cheers.

“I bet ten nuggets that Jeongin is gonna become our new brother before the end of the week”, Hyunjin says. Changbin turns to him.

“There’s no point making that bet, because you’re probably right. Might as well make it twenty nuggets.”

“Twenty nuggets?” Felix repeats, gasping.

“Damn, you’re wild!” Jisung adds. He then glances at Jeongin, who still has his attention on Chan, and is thinking about what he just said. The other kids quiet down as they realize that Jeongin is deep in thought. Probably trying to come to a decision.

“You don’t have to make a decision now”, Minho speaks up, and Jeongin turns to him. “It’s okay if you need time to think.”

Jeongin shakes his head, surprising all of them.

“No, that’s not it. I’m just trying to figure out if everyone else is older or younger than me.”

That’s not what they had been expecting him to say.

“So… Does that mean you’re saying yes?” Chan asks, trying not to sound too hopeful. “You’ll stay with us?”

Jeongin ignores him completely.

“I was born in February 2001”, he says instead. “Does that make you my older or younger brothers?”

“You’re the youngest!” Hyunjin exclaims almost immediately. “Guys, we finally have a maknae!”

Jeongin groans, then frowns as Hyunjin’s words sink in.

“What do you mean ‘finally’? Someone has to have been the youngest before I got here.”

Oh, boy. Jeongin is about to be introduced to the family dynamics.

“Okay, so”, Changbin says, clapping his hands together for attention. “No, not exactly. Jisung and Felix are the youngest, but they’re twins, so calling one of them maknae has been kind of pointless, since the age difference between them is so small. And having both of them as our maknae just doesn’t work. Me and Hyunjin are too irresponsible to have two maknaes.”

Jeongin looks between them, the frown not leaving his face even after the explanation. He’s probably trying to figure out how there can be an age difference between Jisung and Felix if they’re twins. Or maybe he’s stuck up on how they’re twins in the first place. After all, they don’t look like they’re related.

“I am… so confused right now”, he eventually comments.

“That’s great!” Jisung says with a smile. “It’ll only get worse from here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> attempt #272347 at getting the kids to stop cussing: unsuccessful
> 
> also, idk if anyone noticed but seungmin's backstory was spoiled in this chapter :)


	6. Young wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Thanks, Hyunjin", Chan mumbles. Seungmin wants to laugh, but he forces his voice to sound neutral as he responds.
> 
> "I literally have no idea who that is."
> 
> That gets the man's attention.

Not much changes after Jeongin moves in with them. They add a bunk bed to one of the bedrooms and figure out who’s going to sleep in which room, but other than that, it’s not that big of a change.

About a month after Jeongin moves in with them, Hyunjin gets a job at their local supernatural café. That’s where he is right now. His family loves to visit, especially while he’s working, but he’s too busy taking orders and messing up names to care. The only fun part about their visits is that he gets to mess up their names.

“Christopher Bang!” Hyunjin calls as he places a drink down on the counter. His eyes are fixed on someone by one of the tables. When the guy doesn’t get up, Hyunjin calls again. “Chris Bang! Bang Chan! Christiano! Crispy!”

One of the customers in line stifles a laugh at this. Hyunjin’s eyes land on the guy, whose face kind of makes him look like a puppy, and for some reason he feels the need to defend himself.

“Hi, I’m not actually a rude person!” Hyunjin says with a bright smile. “He’s my dad, so I’m allowed to call him Crispy.”

The customer nods, a small grin threatening to break out on his face.

“Oh, okay”, he replies. “I thought that was just standard customer service.”

Hyunjin laughs at this.

“Well, if you want me to give you rude nicknames, I guess I could do that.”

“No thanks!” the customer is quick to say, but he’s smiling, which is good. That means he must be keeping up with Hyunjin’s joke. Kind of shocking, considering Hyunjin is barely keeping up with his own jokes.

There’s not anyone else in line, and Hyunjin is really enjoying this exchange, so he figures that it won’t hurt to keep talking to this guy.

“Well, nice customer, do you have an order I can take?”

“A blueberry muffin, please.”

Hyunjin types it into the machine.

“Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

Oh damn, he’s polite. Kind of surprising. At least it is to Hyunjin, who’s used to his brothers and their complete lack of manners. Or, maybe double standards is a more accurate word for it. They’re all polite to strangers, it’s just at home that they completely drop all their manners.

Hyunjin smiles at the guy again before giving him his total. While the customer is busy taking out his card to pay, he tries to call for Chan again.

“Chaaaan hyuuuung”, he raises his voice, doing his best to be mindful of the other customers in the café. As much as he loves to annoy Chan, he doesn’t want to get any complaints for doing so. It’s not worth it.

“If you want, I could bring his drink to him”, the guy in front of the register offers. Hyunjin turns his face back to face him, trying not to look too surprised. “He doesn’t seem like he’s awake.”

“Oh no, it’s okay! I’ll just bring it to him”, Hyunjin says as he goes to get a blueberry muffin from the display. “It’s my job, after all.”

The guy grins.

“Is that why you’re acting so professional?”

Hyunjin gasps dramatically. If he wasn’t holding the plate with the muffin right now, he would be clutching his chest for extra effect.

“How dare you? Of course I’m professional! I don’t appreciate your sarcasm, young man.”

“Young man?” the guy repeats with a grin. “I bet I’m not even younger than you. You look like you’re my age.”

He might have a point there. Hyunjin squints at him, trying to call upon some sixth sense to find out if this is the case. Sadly, he only has five senses, and squinting at the customer does nothing to help him figure it out. It only makes him look stupid.

“I’m eighteen”, he says. The other guy shrugs.

“Well, I’ll be eighteen in September”, he tells Hyunjin. “Close enough, I guess.”

Hyunjin places the muffin down on the counter between them, and the boy picks it up.

It takes several seconds after the other leaves to go find a seat before Hyunjin notices that he took Chan’s tea with him. Damn him. Why does he have to be nice?

With a sigh, Hyunjin decides that he might as well let the stranger bring Chan his tea. It’s not like anything’s going to happen.

-

It’s pretty clear who this Chan figure is, considering there’s only one customer in the café who didn’t look up when the barista was calling out his name earlier. There’s a man with bleached, curly hair who has his head laying over a table, not seeming like he’s awake. That must be Chan.

Seungmin approaches the table carefully, and puts the cup of tea down in front of him.

“Thanks, Hyunjin”, Chan mumbles. Seungmin wants to laugh, but he forces his voice to sound neutral when he responds.

“I literally have no idea who that is.”

That gets the man’s attention. He lifts his head from the table, eyes finding Seungmin quickly. Chan blinks.

“Uhh… Hi?” he says. “I’m sorry, I thought you were Hyunjin. He’s the barista over there, in case you’re wondering.”

“Yeah, I figured. He said you’re his dad. I’m guessing he’s adopted, since you’re a vampire and all that.”

Chan is about to nod, but then he stops and looks up at the boy with widened eyes.

“Excuse me, what? Are you a witch? Did you just sense my essence, or something? I’m pretty sure Hyunjin wouldn’t tell a random stranger about that.”

Seungmin shakes his head, and Chan gestures to the chair opposite his own. Might as well sit, since they’ve got a conversation going. Chan would love to find out how this kid knows what he is.

“I didn’t sense your essence”, Seungmin says. “Honestly, I was kind of guessing. I couldn’t hear your heartbeat, you were sleeping during the day, you’re really pale… Yeah. Was I right?”

“Yeah, you were.” Chan looks him over. “Oh shit, wait, I don’t even know your name. I’m Bang Chan.”

“Seungmin”, the boy replies. “I’m a werewolf.”

Okay, that makes sense. Werewolves have enhanced hearing. Seungmin must have used that to figure out that Chan doesn’t have a heartbeat.

“Ah, okay. Are you with one of the packs around here, then?”

Seungmin gives a small shake of his head.

“No. I was turned pretty recently. I’ve mostly been hanging around the forest, trying to figure out how this whole thing works on my own.”

Chan picks up his cup of tea, trying not to let his parental instincts overwhelm him completely. He does a decent job. Sure, here’s a kid who’s trying to figure out how to live as a supernatural on his own, from the sounds of it, but it’s not like Chan is going to adopt him. Not yet.

“So, what are you doing in the city then?” Chan asks. “This is pretty far from the forest.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just trying to readjust to the state of being alive.”

Chan almost chokes on his tea.

“You’ve been dead?!”

Seungmin seems to have been a bit startled by Chan’s choking, but he slowly relaxes again.

“No, I just passed out for a few weeks. Might have been a coma. I don’t know, nobody took me to a hospital.”

Seungmin sounds so casual about this. Meanwhile, Chan nearly chokes on his tea. Again. He really needs to stop taking a sip right before Seungmin says something shocking.

“You passed out for several weeks, and wasn’t even looked over by a doctor?” he exclaims in disbelief, staring at the younger. Seungmin nods.

“Basically, yeah.”

Great. Amazing. Fantastic.

“My boyfriend is a doctor”, Chan says, speaking before thinking, as usual. “I know it’s probably a bit late, but you really should make sure that everything’s fine. A human skeleton isn’t meant to turn into a wolf, there can be plenty of complications the first few times you transform.”

Seungmin blinks at him.

“Uh, yeah, I suppose…”

“If you want, you could come with me to the hospital after this. I’m going there to pick up my kids, anyway. It wouldn’t be a problem for me to take you.”

He catches Seungmin glancing toward the cash register, and goes on to explain.

“Hyunjin is only one of my kids. I have four more.”

Seungmin raises his eyebrows.

“Oh, wow.” He glances toward Hyunjin once more, before settling his eyes on Chan. “But yeah, I guess that could be good. I’ll come with you.”

-

“Why are your kids in the hospital, by the way?”

Chan and Seungmin are walking through the entrance to the hospital when Seungmin asks. The older turns to him with a grimace.

“Well… From what my boyfriend has told me, one of them was trying to learn a transfiguration spell, and it went wrong. Not sure where the second one comes into that, but both of them apparently had to go the hospital.”

“You don’t seem very worried about this”, Seungmin comments as they come to a stop in front of the reception. They haven’t gotten a queue ticket, so he assumes they’re going straight to Chan’s boyfriend.

“Yeah.” Chan sighs. “I have a very chaotic family, so hospital trips are a weekly thing for us.”

Seungmin nods, unsure about how to respond to that. They stand in silence for a few moments, and it seems like they’re waiting for the receptionist in front of them to finish something, since Chan is looking at her expectantly.

Once she’s done talking to the guy she’d been talking to, she turns to Chan with a smile. She must have noticed them standing here.

“Hi there”, she says. “What brings you here on this lovely day?”

“Hey, Miyeon”, he responds, smiling back at her. “Take a guess.”

Miyeon turns to type something on the screen behind the reception.

“Well, I’m sure it has nothing to do with the two kids who came in earlier, one missing a finger and one suddenly having an extra pinky on his right hand.”

“Of course not”, Chan agrees.

“They’re in with Minho right now. I think he’s done with them, though, so they should be on their way out. Unless they’ve decided to stick around just to annoy him.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me.”

Chan thanks her before turning to Seungmin and gesturing for him to follow. They walk past the reception and into a hallway, Chan taking the lead as they walk. The room they’re going to is near the end of the hallway. Seungmin counts the doors they pass on the way and gets all the way to eleven before Chan stops walking.

Seungmin reads the small plate next to the door. _Dr. Lee Minho_. It says nothing about what he specializes in, but this is the supernatural section of the hospital, so Seungmin isn’t sure he would have understood it, even if there had been more information on the sign.

Chan knocks twice before opening the door. Seungmin’s view is blocked by the older’s body, but he hears voices coming from inside.

“Channie hyung!” someone shouts. That has to be one of the kids. It definitely doesn’t sound like a doctor.

“Hi Lix”, Chan replies, stepping inside and giving Seungmin a cleared view of the room.

There’s a desk right in front, and a dark-haired man sits on the chair by the desk. He’s wearing a white coat, so that must be Chan’s boyfriend, the doctor. The man doesn’t look up when they enter, but there are two younger boys sitting on the gurney in a corner of the room. Both of them are currently looking at Chan.

Seungmin steps into the room behind Chan, and the kids (more like teenagers, really) turn their eyes to him.

“Who’s this?” one them asks, and that catches the doctor’s attention. Lee Minho (?) turns around toward them and sees Seungmin. For some reason, he doesn’t even seem surprised that Chan has brought a random stranger into his workplace.

“This”, Chan gestures to Seungmin, “is Seungmin. I met him at Hyunjin’s café, and apparently he was turned into a werewolf recently and hasn’t been looked over by a doctor yet. I figured I could bring him here.”

“Should we leave?” the other kid asks, his round eyes looking between Chan and Seungmin.

Lee Minho (Seungmin still isn’t sure if that’s actually his name) stands from his seat and turns to the two kids.

“No, you can stay for a few minutes. I have to go get some stuff first.” He crosses the room, but comes to a stop in front of Seungmin to smile at the boy. “Hey, I’m Minho. I’m just gonna get some things from the other room, and then I can check you over. Is that okay?”

“Yeah”, Seungmin says. “Thank you.”

Minho nods before exchanging a quick look with Chan. He then leaves the room. It’s quiet for approximately half a second after that.

“I’m Felix!” one of the boys on the gurney takes the chance to introduce himself. “And this is Jisung.” He gestures to the kid next to him, the one with the round eyes.

“Nice to meet you”, Seungmin says, giving a small smile. The smile he gets from Felix in return is bright enough to rival the sun.

“How old are you?” Felix asks.

“I’m turning eighteen in a month.”

Jisung has seemed a bit wary up until now, but this catches his attention.

“Really?” he exclaims.

“Us too!” Felix adds, gesturing between himself and Jisung. “Our birthdays are in September too. What day is yours?”

“The 22nd”, Seungmin replies. “What about you?”

“I’m the 15th, and he’s the 14th. We’re basically twins.”

“You can be our triplet!” Jisung adds with a smile.

Chan, who’s been watching the entire exchange from the doorway, tries not to visibly shudder at that.

“Oh no, there’s three of them…” he whispers.

-

Lucky for Chan, he’s not in peril for long. Minho returns to the room only a few minutes later and pretty much kicks Jisung and Felix out so he can look over Seungmin. Chan offers to stay, but the boy says he’ll be fine with Minho, so Chan leaves.

“So, Seungmin”, Minho says. “Tell me what happened. Did you get hurt? Have you experienced any side effects since being turned?”

“I passed out and didn’t wake up for a few weeks”, Seungmin replies, not sounding very bothered by this. Minho raises his eyebrows. “The scratch is healed, and other than that, I feel fine.”

“Well, I’m still gonna look you over, just in case. Don’t worry, though. I’m only doing the basics.”

Once the checkup is done, Minho goes over to the desk and turns on the computer to note this down in Seungmin’s journal. Seungmin takes the time to look around the office, noticing a few plants on the windowsill and some drawing on the walls. Most of them look like they’re done by kids, but there are some better ones. A specific drawing catches his eye. It has seven people drawn next to each other in a cartoonish style. It’s too detailed to be done by a kid, and the lines aren’t as squiggly as the ones a kid would have drawn. Seungmin wonders if it was one of Minho and Chan’s kids who made it.

After finishing his notes, Minho glances down at his phone, catching Seungmin’s attention. The man faces Seungmin.

“Chan just texted me”, he informs, pocketing his phone again. “We got incoming.”

Seungmin has no idea what that means, but he doesn’t have to wait more than a few seconds before the door is thrown open. He hasn’t even turned his head yet when a voice says,

“Where’s the new kid?”

Seungmin recognizes that voice. He turns his head so fast that it almost hurts, staring in the direction of the door.

Jeongin meets his eyes, and a second later, he jumps at Seungmin.

“Woah! Calm down, Innie”, they hear Chan’s voice from the doorway, but they both ignore him. They’re busy clinging to each other, as if they’re worried that someone will try to separate them if they don’t hold on as tightly as they can.

“Innie, do you know Seungmin?” Minho asks. Jeongin pulls back just enough to the able to respond, his arms still around Seungmin’s neck.

“Yeah”, he says. He sounds slightly out of breath. “He’s the werewolf I told you about, the hyung that I basically grew up with.”

“Wait… The one who tried to kill you?” Chan wonders. Seungmin sees the exasperated look Minho sends his boyfriend, one that clearly says that that’s not something he should be bringing up now. It makes Seungmin laugh.

“Yeah, that’s me”, Seungmin confirms. “It was an accident, though. Innie knows that.”

“I haven’t seen you in, like, two months!” Jeongin exclaims. He pulls back to stare at Seungmin. Their current position puts him halfway on Seungmin’s lap, but neither of them try to move away. “Are you okay? Where are you staying? Does your mom know you’re a werewolf?”

Seungmin smiles.

“I’m fine. I’ve been staying with my grandma, she lives closer to the forest. And yeah, my mom knows. She’s actually the only one who does.”

Jeongin gives him a look, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Don’t you have anyone who can help you out with supernatural stuff?”

Seungmin shakes his head slowly. On the other side of the room, Minho and Chan exchange a look, and anyone who’s known them for more than five minutes can probably figure out what it means.

“That’s not good”, Jeongin comments. “I’ve been staying with Minho hyung and Chan hyung since your mom said I wasn’t allowed to see you, and they’re great at helping people! Even though all their kids are different supernatural things and they can’t relate at all, they’re still really great at it.”

Seungmin glances at the two adults with a curious expression.

“I wouldn’t say we’re great”, Chan objects, taking a step closer to them. “We just do what we can to help.”

“Have they, like, adopted you?” Seungmin asks Jeongin. “Do your parents know about it?”

Jeongin grins.

“They actually talked to my mom about a week ago, because they needed to have custody over me to sign me up for school this year, and she agreed to let them be my legal guardians!”

That’s good. Seungmin has always known that Jeongin is an angel, so it’s good that he finally lives with people who understand what he is and can offer him better support. After all, Seungmin’s entire family is human, just like he used to be, so Jeongin grew up surrounded by humans.

Seungmin’s mom has been trying to educate herself on supernatural stuff since he was turned, but it’s hard when you don’t have any idea where to start. These things are kept hidden for a reason. Information isn’t easy to find.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you said you don’t have anyone to help you out with supernatural stuff, and it’s only been a few weeks since you were turned”, Chan says. He takes another step toward the two boys. “I know quite a few werewolves who might be able to help, or even just offer some advice or answer questions you might have.”

“This is what I meant when I said that Chan hyung is great at helping”, Jeongin comments, giving a solemn nod. He looks way too serious for the situation. Seungmin has to hold back a laugh at the expression, because it definitely does not fit.

Chan sends Jeongin a look before turning back to Seungmin.

“Ignore him. So, you don’t have to do anything at this moment. I don’t wanna force too much on you this early…”

“You took me home to your apartment less than five minutes after meeting me”, Jeongin interrupts, and Chan looks like he has to hold back a loud sigh at this.

“Yes, that is true, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to kidnap every supernatural person under the age of 18 who needs some sort of guidance.”

Minho raises his eyebrows.

“Oh? Isn’t that what you’ve done with your five previous kids?”

Chan gasps, turning to Minho.

“Hey! Admit it, Felix’s adoption was at least 90% on you. I didn’t have anything to do with it that time.”

Seungmin looks between them, amused.

“That still leaves four kids that were completely your own fault”, he comments. Chan’s expression is betrayed.

“Oh!” Jeongin exclaims, almost elbowing Seungmin in the face as he jumps up. “I gotta introduce you to my brothers! You already met Jisung hyung and Felix hyung, but I have two more.”

“He’s met Hyunjin, too”, Chan says.

“Well…” Jeongin frowns. “That only leaves Changbin hyung. I don’t really wanna introduce you to Changbin hyung.”

“Why not?” Seungmin asks. He thought Jeongin liked his new family, so the fact that he looks repulsed at the mere thought of introducing anyone to Changbin is confusing.

Jeongin sticks his tongue out, faking disgust.

“He betrayed me earlier today, I don’t think I can ever forgive him for it.”

“What did he do?” 

Minho sighs from where he’s still standing near the door, while Seungmin looks at Jeongin in curiosity. Chan just seems confused.

“He stole my milk”, Jeongin says with a pout.

Okay, that's not exactly a betrayal. Seungmin raises his eyebrows.

“Damn, I can’t believe he did that to you. Poor baby, you must have felt so hurt!”

Minho laughs as Jeongin struggles to get away from Seungmin, who’s now reaching out to pinch his cheeks. The youngest nearly runs into Chan, but the vampire catches him and stops him from falling over.

“Anyway”, Chan raises his voice to get their attention. “Seungmin, would you like to come over and have dinner with us? You could meet Changbin and spend some time with Innie, catch up and all that.”

“Would you like to stay forever?” Jeongin adds, smiling brightly. “We have video games and fruity loops.”

Chan, once again, looks like he’s holding back a sigh. He closes his eyes for a second before opening them and turning to Jeongin.

“Innie, you can’t just invite people to live with us like that. Seungmin has a mom already. And you shouldn’t try to bait him with video games and fruity loops!”

“Kind of hypocritical of you to say, don’t you think?” Minho says. “You adopted five kids like this. He only learned it from you.”

Chan seems to decide to ignore both Minho and Jeongin, instead facing Seungmin.

“So, what do you say? Dinner?”

Seungmin smiles.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's another chapter of them just chilling and also realizing that the apartment is way too small for 8 people (which is why they're moving in the next fic) but i'm also writing a family vacation so there's gonna be another story in this series once this is done. and i also started Hello Stranger which is the fic where minchan meet each other :p


	7. YAYAYA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Yeah. I can't believe so much changed in so little time. Everything was the same for 35 years when it was just you and me, and now everything is so different."
> 
> "I'm glad it is, though. You're a great dad." Minho smiles at Chan, but before he can respond, Minho continues. "And you're right about the house, by the way. We need a bigger house. You better find one, quick."
> 
> Chan sputters, surprised by the sudden turn in conversation.

“They all lived happily ever after. The end.”

“Noo, you can’t end it like that!” Felix whines. “That’s bad! Boring! Basic! Other negative words that start with a B!”

“Bitchy”, Jisung supplies. Jeongin pushes him when he says this, but Jisung grabs onto the other boy, and they both end up falling down from the bed together. They land on the floor with a thud.

Chan rolls his eyes at them. When he adopted a bunch of teenagers, he hadn’t imagined he would be telling any bedtime stories, but since a few weeks back, it has become kind of like a tradition. Apparently, getting together and listening to a story is something that helps most of the kids with their sleep.

Changbin says it makes him have fewer nightmares. Hyunjin falls asleep faster. Felix thinks he’s calmer after listening to it. Seungmin is the one who came up with the idea, saying it would help him fall asleep easier. However, Jisung and Jeongin don’t always join the story time, for different reasons.

Jisung doesn’t like to have so much social interaction right before bed, and Jeongin has said that bedtime stories energize him and make it harder to sleep. That’s why story time is always held in the bigger bedroom, the one where Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix and Seungmin sleep. Jisung and Jeongin can come to that room on the nights they want to hear the story. Tonight, they’re both here. Currently on the floor.

“Okay, time for you two to get back to your own room”, Minho comments, getting up from where he’d been sitting on Seungmin’s bed. Chan and him usually take turns telling the story. Tonight, it had been Chan’s turn, but Minho was here to listen.

“I’ll take Sungie if you get Innie”, Chan suggests, and Minho nods. They know from experience that it’s easier to carry them back, otherwise it’s going to take at least another hour before they get to their own bedroom.

Jeongin and Jisung haven’t moved from where they landed on the floor. They seem to have resigned themselves to their fate of laying on the floor, even going as far as to cuddling up against each other, as if they’re going to stay there for a while.

“Hey”, Minho says, crouching down next to them. “Why are you on the floor?”

“We fell”, Jisung answers, as if that wasn’t obvious already.

“Didn’t you see it?” Jeongin adds. “It literally just happened.”

Chan joins Minho, crouching down next to the two kids.

“True, but I think what Minho meant to ask was why you haven’t gotten up from the floor yet”, Chan says. He smiles. “I think your beds might be a bit more comfortable, but that’s just my guess.”

As Minho and Chan get to work on making Jisung and Jeongin stand up, the other boys in the room start talking.

“Why do we need to go to bed?” Felix asks, sounding way too serious. “I’m not tired and I don’t have anywhere to be tomorrow. I really don’t see why we need to sleep.”

“Same!” Hyunjin agrees. “It’s not like it’s bad to stay awake when you’re not tired.”

“Having a regular sleep schedule has many health benefits”, Minho comments as he helps Jeongin get onto his back, trying to ignore injuring both of their wings’ as they do. Chan briefly wonders if it’s uncomfortable for Minho to carry someone on his back, considering his wings, but Minho has never complained before so he assumes it’s not.

“You sound too much like a doctor”, Changbin comments. It makes Minho snort.

“I mean, I am a doctor, so are you really that surprised?”

Changbin ignores him completely.

“Most demons are actually nocturnal”, he says instead. “So the real health benefit would be to let me stay up all night and sleep during the day.”

Chan, who has just gotten Jisung onto his back, pauses. He turns to Changbin.

“Wait, Binnie, is that true?” he asks. Now he’s genuinely worried for the boy’s health. If he really is nocturnal, forcing him to follow their sleep schedule is not good parenting.

Changbin looks at him.

“I mean, yeah…? But I’ve been living like a human my entire life, so I’m used to this now.”

“See, he’s fine”, Jisung says and pats Chan’s shoulder. Chan almost finds it funny how easily Jisung could tell that he was starting to worry, but maybe that’s what happens when you’ve lived together for as long as they have. You get more in tune with their thoughts.

Changbin does seem fine. Chan looks at him for a few more seconds before giving a nod and turning around, ready to head out to drop Jisung and Jeongin off in their own bedroom.

On the way out, Minho stops to look back at the remaining kids.

“Please go to bed soon”, he says. “Seungmin is going to get the last of his stuff from his mom’s house tomorrow, and she has work, so he has to be there pretty early in the morning. Don’t stay up too late.”

Compared to all the other kids, Seungmin’s (unofficial) adoption had been a much longer process. After that first night when he had dinner with them, he had actually gone back home to sleep at his grandma’s house. It took around two weeks of him visiting them every single day before he decided to stay the night, and eventually, to move in with them.

The four teens nod. Minho and Chan leave after that, bringing the two boys on their backs with them down the hallway.

Jisung and Jeongin are suspiciously quiet during the ten seconds it takes to get to their bedroom. When Chan glances back over his shoulder, he sees them playing a silent game of rock, paper, scissors. Honestly, he should have expected something like that. At least they're calm while they do it.

Once they reach the bedroom, Minho and Chan dump each kid on one of the beds. They’re both pretty quiet. That probably means they’re tired, so goodnights won’t be a big deal tonight.

Chan starts with Jisung.

“Don’t spend three hours on youtube and forget to go to sleep”, he says, only half joking as he ruffles Jisung’s hair. The boy pouts.

“I never did that”, he argues. It’s pointless, because Chan can name at least five instances where he has done exactly that.

“Yeah, sure.” Chan gives his hair a last ruffle before stepping back. “Sleep well, see you in the morning.”

Jisung gives him a tired wave and a small wave. Chan then switches place with Minho. The bedroom isn’t that big, and he almost walks into Minho before the younger grabs his shoulders to maneuver them around each other. Chan sends him a sheepish grin before taking a seat on the edge of Jeongin’s bed.

“Bye, goodnight, see you some other time”, Jeongin mumbles, his eyes already closed. Chan chuckles and ruffles his hair.

“Sleep well”, he says. He lets his hand linger a few moments longer, before standing and making his way out the room. Minho turns off the light on his way out. Once they’re both outside, Chan closes the door and they turn to walk toward their own bedroom.

“This house is getting too small”, Chan comments.

“We’ve only lived here two and a half years. It’s not my fault you decided to adopt so many kids in such a short time”, Minho responds. “If you had stopped after Binnie, we would have been fine for at least a few more years.”

Chan slaps his arm, and Minho yelps, pretending to be in pain. They’re right outside the other kids’ bedroom now, so Minho quiets down immediately and opens the door to make sure that he didn’t disturb them.

The first thing they see is Felix hanging upside down from his bunk. Minho blinks at the sight, and the kids inside the room notice his presence, as they all turn to him with innocent smiles. Hyunjin isn’t even in his own bed right now. He’s sitting on the floor right next to it.

“You’re trying to sleep, right?” Minho asks. Felix whips his head up when he hears Minho’s voice, his skin flushed red from having been upside down. He grins and nods. “Good. I thought so.”

He closes the door, and Chan makes sure to get in a ‘Good night’ before it closes fully.

“They’re definitely not trying to sleep”, Minho comments.

Chan smiles at that but doesn’t say anything. There’s not really anything to say, because Minho is right.

“Do you remember how sad Felix was when he first got here, and Jisung refused to sleep in the same room as him?” he asks instead.

Minho hums.

“Yeah, that’s pretty hard to forget. They were both miserable every time they had to sleep, but both of them refused to talk about it.”

“And then Binnie got here, and the twins moved into the big bedroom together?”

Minho nods again. His eyes take on a distant look.

“Lix got much happier after that”, he comments with a small smile. Chan smiles, too.

“Yeah. I can’t believe so much changed in so little time. Everything was the same for, like, 35 years when it was just you and I, and now everything is so different.”

“I’m glad it is, though. You’re a great dad.” Minho smiles at Chan, but before he can respond, Minho continues. “And you’re right about the house, by the way. We need a bigger house. You better find one, quick.”

Chan sputters for a few seconds, surprised by the sudden turn in conversation. Minho waits for him to collect himself.

“I- Why me?” he then manages to ask. “Why can’t you find a house?”

Minho shrugs.

“You’re pickier than me. You’ll make a better choice.”

“We can find one together”, Chan compromises, and Minho thinks for a second before shrugging again. He nods.

“Yeah, sure. As long as we find one with more bathrooms. Honestly, I don’t care if there’s not enough bedrooms, but if we don’t have at least two bathrooms, I’m going to have issues.”

Chan grins at him.

“I thought I was the picky one?”

Minho hits his shoulder as they enter their bedroom.

“Yeah, and I stand by that.” Chan opens his mouth, probably to make some comment about how hypocritical that is of him to say, but Minho reaches out and puts a hand over Chan’s mouth. “Shh, baby, don’t speak. Just accept it.”

Chan widens his eyes and waits for Minho to lower his hand.

“Uh, okay”, he says once Minho's hand is no longer blocking his mouth. “Anyway. Do you wanna look at houses now, or…?”

Minho shrugs.

“We might as well. The sooner, the better.”

That’s how they end up sitting together under the same blanket on the bed, Chan’s laptop balanced between them as they look for a new place to live. They discuss the houses in hushed voices to avoid waking the kids.

35 years ago, this scene would have felt foreign to them, but now, it just feels natural.


End file.
